Quantificação de DNA pró-viral do vírus da Leucemia Felina e avaliação clínica de gatos domésticos mantidos em abrigo

Abstract

Leukemia (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency (FIV) are highly prevalent infectious diseases in Brazil. Like other infectious diseases, large populations are more exposed. The general objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of these retroviruses in an exclusive shelter for cats, to quantify the load of leukemia virus proviral DNA and, additionally, to describe the associated clinical and laboratory findings. A total of 115 cats were included in the study. Fifty cats (43.48%) were positive for antibodies against the FIV virus. All cats these cats were neutered, and (54%) were females and 46% males. Seventy percent were between 1 and 6 years of age and 46% were in the ideal weight range. All 115 cats included in the study had some sign of infectious respiratory tract disease. Cats with FIV infection, on the other hand, presented oral cavity, dermatological and gastrointestinal disorders. There was a significant association with castrated reproductive status (p=0.002) and FIV infection, in addition to being significantly older (p<0.001), and association with oral cavity disorders (p<0.001). Cats aged 1 to 6 years are approximately 15 times (p<0.001) more likely to have FIV infection than younger cats. The result of the blood count of the FIV positive cats revealed the value of hematimetry (p= 0.049) and hematocrit (p= 0.047) significantly lower than those of the negative cats. Twenty-one cats (18.26%) were FeLV positive and 10 (8.7%) were FeLV and FIV positive. No significant association was found between gender, reproductive status and FeLV antigenemia. More than half of the FeLV positive cats were between 1 and 6 years old. In screening for proviral DNA of the 115 cats, 91 (79.13%) were undetectable and 24 (20.87%) detectable. The minimum detection value was 346 copies/106 cells and the maximum value was 46666734.93 copies/106 cells. The analysis of the results of the proviral DNA test and the FeLV screening test identified 19 (16.52%) with progressive infection, 5 (4.35%) of the cats with regressive infection and two cats had discordant results. The quantification of proviral DNA copies was significantly higher in cats with progressive infection (p=0.009). FeLV-positive cats had significantly lower values for blood count (p=<0.001), hemoglobin (p=0.001) and hematocrit (p=<0.001).