Occurence of Feline Coronavirus and Feline Infectious Peritonitis Virus in Thailand

Abstract

Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV), a mutant of feline coronavirus (FCoV), is a member of the family Coronaviridae. FIPV induces an Arthus-type immune response and causes feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). To date, there has been no scientific report of FCoV and FIPV in Thailand, although cats with clinical signs suggesting FIP have been sporadically observed. In this study, 190 serum and body fluid samples were collected from solitary cats and multi-cat households residing in the central and eastern parts of Thailand. Nine out of 174 serum samples and 12 out of 13 abdominal or thoracic fluid samples were from cats with clinical signs suggesting FIP. In addition, three thoracic fluid samples were obtained from cats that visited a small animal hospital in Thailand. Detection of FCoV and FIPV RNAs was carried out on 184 samples using recently developed nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions (RT-nPCR). The results demonstrated that 57 of 184 (30.97%) and 3 of 184 (1.63%) samples contained FCoV and FIPV RNAs, respectively. In addition, a parallel study tested for the presence of the antibodies to FCoV using a dot blot ELISA with the same samples. The results indicated that 55 out of 98 (56.12%) cats had antibodies to the FCoV. This was the first report demonstrating the occurrence of FCoV and FIPV in Thailand.