Update on FeLV and FIV: Testing...Diagnosing...Preventing

The feline retroviruses, FeLV and FIV, today are well recognized for their ability to cause profound immune-suppressive disease in cats throughout the world. Clearly among the most complex infections affecting the cat, a retroviral infection demands an immune response that is robust and sustained if the infected cat is to survive long-term. Both innate immune responses (neutrophils, macrophages, and antigen presenting cells [APCs]) as well as adaptive immunity (B-lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes) are critical factors...all of which makes the outcome of exposure difficult to predict...even in vaccinated cats.