RESEARCH - New Treatment Stops Cat Virus (FIP)

Researchers from Kansas City University (KSU) have had great success with an antiviral treatment for feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) that blocks the virus from replicating and stops the progression of the disease.

Their results, recently published in PLOS Pathogens journal, showed cats that received the protease inhibitor avoided a near-certain death sentence and returned to normal within 20 days post-treatment.

Until now it was not clear whether an antiviral by itself could reverse FIP’s deadly progress.

       

“This is the first time we showed experimental evidence of successful treatment of laboratory cats at an advanced clinical stage of FIP,” study lead Yunjeong Kim, an associate professor in KSU’s diagnostic medicine and pathobiology department, wrote.

“We found that antiviral treatment led to full recovery of cats when treatment was started at a stage of disease that would be otherwise fatal if left untreated.”

Cats in the study had FIP experimentally induced in a laboratory setting. The next step will be to test the effectiveness of the antiviral in cats that have come by their FIP naturally.

Feline infectious peritonitis is a viral disease of cats caused by certain strains of a virus called the feline coronavirus. Once a cat develops clinical FIP involving one or many systems of the cat's body, the disease is progressive and almost always fatal. The way clinical FIP develops as an immune-mediated disease is unique, unlike any other viral disease of animals or humans.

Canine Influenza Found in Cats

(Cheryl Wallach Photography)

Sandra Newbury, clinical assistant professor and director of the Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Veterinary Medicine, has confirmed that canine influenza has now infected a group of cats in Indiana.

Newbury, along with Kathy Toohey-Kurth, virology section head at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, tested multiple cats at an animal shelter in Northwest Indiana and found them positive for the H3N2 canine influenza virus.

“Suspicions of an outbreak in the cats were initially raised when a group of them displayed unusual signs of respiratory disease,” Newbury says in their press release. “While this first confirmed report of multiple cats testing positive for canine influenza in the U.S. shows the virus can affect cats, we hope that infections and illness in felines will continue to be quite rare.”

Cats that have contracted the virus in the shelter have displayed symptoms such as runny nose, congestion and general malaise, as well as lip smacking and excessive salivation. Symptoms have resolved quickly and so far, the virus has not been fatal in cats.

Newbury and the UW Shelter Medicine team are working closely with the animal shelter to manage the influenza outbreak.

An H3N2 vaccine is now available for dogs, but no vaccine is currently approved or recommended for cats.

Feline help from Winn Foundation

Each year, the Winn Feline Foundation receive proposals from veterinary researchers around the world who are interested in improving feline health. This year, Winn selected 10 projects for funding. 

One of the chosen researchers proposals included the treatment of feline ocular herpes virus infection, which typically cause respiratory disease in cats.

There currently is no available treatments for this type of chronic infection, but the study is hopeful it will result in finding a treatment suitable for cats. 

Read the News Release