title: Prevalence of feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukaemia virus among client-owned cats and risk factors for infection in Germany.
abstract: This study was conducted to determine prevalence and risk factors for retrovirus infection of infected cats in a large cat population in Germany by evaluation of 17,462 client-owned cats that were tested for the presence of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibodies or feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) antigen. The owners of a subset of 100 cats were contacted to determine their cat's survival times. Prevalence of FIV and FeLV was 3.2% and 3.6%, respectively, remaining stable for FIV, but decreasing for FeLV (6-1%) over 10 years. Median age was 6 years in FIV- and 3 years in FeLV-infected cats. Risk factors for FIV infection were male gender, older age, mixed breed, access to outdoor, aggressive behaviour, and FeLV co-infection; and for FeLV infection contact to other cats, aggressive behaviour, and FIV co-infection. Median survival time of FIV-infected cats was not significantly different to non-infected cats, whereas FeLV-infected cats had significantly shorter median survival times than non-infected cats.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Small Animal Internal Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Veterinärstrasse 13, 80539 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Gleich
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krieger
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hartmann
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001772:Blood Cell Count / Q000662:veterinary; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002415:Cats; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry; D016181:Feline Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D016089:Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005256:Leukemia Virus, Feline / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016582:Leukemia, Feline / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial