Feline Panleucopenia

Antigenicity

• One serotype

Hosts

• Cats
• Mink
• Raccoons
• Pandas

Pathogenesis

• Also known as Feline Infectious Enteritis and Feline Panleukopenia
• Often fatal
• Pyrexia, severe enteritis (often bloody), dehydration, leukopenia, anemia
• Kittens <2 weeks show cerebellar hypoplasia
• Kittens more susceptible than cats
• Oral infection
• Initial replication in pharyngeal lymphoid tissue
• Viremia
• Virus targets rapidly dividing cells: lymph nodes, bone marrow, crypts of small intestine

Epidemiology

• Infection by direct contact and fomites
• Subclinical infections occur
• Virus excretion can be persistent
• Endemic worldwide

Diagnosis

• Clinical signs
• Hematology: leukopenia
• Can be confirmed by haemagglutination (HA) or ELISA using feces

Control

• Inactivated vaccines are available and essential for boarding
• Administered parenterally post-weaning to induce a systemic immune response to neutralize viremia
• Annual booster