FeLV

Quantitative analysis of proviral and viral forms of Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) in cat and other felines (tiger, lion, leopard ...)
Detection of progressive and regressive infections.

Reasons for testing

Symptomatic animals

 Diagnostics of FeLV infection causing various clinical signs (anemia, recurrent infections, lymphoma, ...) especially in focal forms (stomatitis) or tumors.
 Retest of an animal with a positive result with an immunologic assay
 Monitoring of blood viral or/and proviral load (on request, contact us)

Asymptomatic animals

 Early stage of infection (recent contact)
 Prior to vaccination
 Blood donnors recommended by ABCD
 Confirmation of a positive or equivocal result with an immunologic assay (doctor’s test)
PCR enables the detection of regressive forms of infection when immunological assays (antigen detection) may be negative.

Whatever the clinical status

 Confirmation of equivocal immunologic results

Test characteristics

• Quantitative RT-PCR: amplification of viral RNA and DNA
  Detection of provirus (viral genome integrated in the cat genome, necessary in the retroviral replication cycle) and virus (means viral replication)
• Limit of detection
• Quantitative analysis on plasma or serum (on request, contact us)

Diagnostic samples

• Blood (EDTA)
• Blood (EDTA) and oropharyngeal cells (cytobrush and dry swab) in case of buccal signs (stomatitis, gingivitis)
• CSF or aqueous humor for neurological/ocular forms (uveitis) (and blood if possible)
• Tumor biopsy, organs, lymph nodes… (with no formalin)

Result interpretation

• Negative result: absence of infection with FeLV or viral load lower than the limit of detection. This viral etiology can be excluded in a symptomatic animal.
  
• Positive result: the animal is infected with FeLV (the infection can possibly be latent).
  For some animals, a later analysis can be negative whereas the first one was weakly positive. However it is unlikely that the integrated viral form has been eliminated. We advise you to regularly monitor these animals to check their status progression (viral load progression...).

Do not hesitate to contact us for sample collecting advice or help in interpreting the results.