Characterisation of canine parvovirus strains isolated from cats with feline panleukopenia

Unlike the original canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2), CPV-2 variants have gained the ability to replicate in vivo in cats but there is limited information on the disease patterns induced by these variants in the feline host. During 2008, two distinct cases of parvoviral infection were diagnosed in our laboratories. A CPV-2a variant was identified in a 3-month-old Persian kitten displaying clinical sign of feline panleukopenia (FPL) (acute gastroenteritis and marked leukopenia) and oral ulcerations, that died eight days after the onset of the disease. Two pups living in the same pet shop as the cat were found to shed a CPV-2a strain genetically identical to the feline virus and were likely the source of infection. Also, non-fatal infection by a CPV-2c strain occurred in a 2.5-month-old European shorthair kitten displaying non-haemorrhagic diarrhoea and normal white blood cell counts. By sequence analysis of the major capsid protein (VP2) gene, the feline CPV-2c strain showed 100% identity to a recent canine type-2c isolate. Both kittens had been administered multivalent vaccines against common feline pathogens including FPL virus. Whether and to which extent the FPL vaccines can protect cats adequately from the antigenic variants of CPV-2 should be assessed.