Occurrence of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) and Feline Leukemia (FeLV) in São Luís-MA

The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus in the city of São Luí­s, Maranhão state (MA), Brazil. A total of 120 blood samples were tested using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to detect the proviral DNA, with an amplification of a fragment of 244bp of the FIV's gene gag. To detect anti-FIV antibodies and the p27antigen of FeLV, the samples were tested with a commercial immunoassay kit, SNAP Combo Plus (IDEXX^® Laboratories, USA), an indirect ELISA was also carried out for FIV. All three tests used gave 18.33% (22/120) of positivity for FIV. PCR and indirect ELISA found 10.83% (13/120) of the animals with FIV, while the SNAP Combo Plus found 9.17% (11/120). Only 0.83% (1/120) of the samples were positive for FeLV in the SNAP combo plus. Comparatively, SNAP combo plus showed higher sensitivity, whereas the indirect ELISA and PCR had, similar and better specificity (p<0.05). The small difference between the tests (all above 90%) indicates that they are highly specific and have a high VPN, implying that they have the capacity to distinguish true negatives. Therefore, this study concluded that FIV is present in São Luí­s and that the clinical disease exists in Maranhão state, whereas for FeLV, there was only one seropositive animal which did not show any symptoms.