An Update on Feline Infectious Peritonitis

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is an important disease to the cat clinician for several reasons; it is fatal in most (clinical) cases, its biology is poorly understood and prevention is difficult, to say the least. It is also an enigmatic disease: a sporadic viral condition is a contradiction in terms. One expects epidemic expansion from virus diseases, or at least a consistent pattern of spread in a cat society. Another mystifying trait is the fact that antibodies the molecules we associate with immunity and protection have no beneficial effect for the cat. Indeed, under certain circumstances they may even precipitate disease, causing the 'early death' phenomenon. The detection of antibodies is of no benefit to the consulting veterinarian either, since titres are meaningless for the purposes of diagnosis and prognosis in individual patients. Nevertheless, there is a place for serology, as we will discuss later. There is also a vaccine available in some countries, which has been shown to provide some protection [4]. However, its efficacy is a matter of debate.