title: Association between oral health status and retrovirus test results in cats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine associations between oral health status and seropositivity for FIV or FeLV in cats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  5,179 cats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Veterinarians at veterinary clinics and animal shelters completed online training on oral conditions in cats and then scored oral health status of cats with no known history of vaccination against FIV. Age, sex, and results of an ELISA for retroviruses were recorded. Results were analyzed by means of standard logistic regression with binary outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 5,179 cats, 237 (4.6%) and 186 (3.6%) were seropositive for FIV and FeLV, respectively, and of these, 12 (0.2%) were seropositive for FIV and FeLV. Of all 5,179 cats, 1,073 (20.7%) had gingivitis, 576 (11.1%) had periodontitis, 203 (3.9%) had stomatitis, and 252 (4.9%) had other oral conditions (overall oral disease prevalence, 2,104/5,179 [40.6%]). Across all age categories, inflammatory oral disease was associated with a significantly higher risk of a positive test result for FIV, compared with the seropositivity risk associated with other oral diseases or no oral disease. Stomatitis was most highly associated with risk of FIV seropositivity. Cats with any oral inflammatory disease were more likely than orally healthy cats to have a positive test result for FeLV. Increasing age was associated with a higher prevalence of oral disease in retrovirus-seronegative cats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inflammatory oral disease was associated with an increased risk of seropositivity for retroviruses in naturally infected cats. Therefore, retroviral status of cats with oral inflammatory disease should be determined and appropriate management initiated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kornya
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Mathew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kornya
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: Margie A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Scherk
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Sears
authors.forename: Dorothee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bienzle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D002415:Cats; D005260:Female; D016089:Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016180:Lentivirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005256:Leukemia Virus, Feline / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008297:Male; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology