Estudo clínico, laboratorial e epidemiológico da Imunodeficiência Viral Felina (FIV) no Município de São Luís - MA

Abstract

Feline Immunodeficiency (FIV) is caused by a retrovirus with worldwide distribution, and prevalence ranging from 2.5% to 44%. The FIV infection causes immunosuppression, with a progressive decline of CD4+ T lymphocytes, leading to clinical signs due to opportunistic infections. This work aimed to evaluate clinical, laboratorial and epidemiological aspects of the feline immunodeficiency virus infection in the city of São Luís, Maranhao state in Brazil. It was analyzed 120 samples of blood, by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), to detect FIV proviral DNA. A fragment of 244pb of the gene gag of the FIV was obtained after amplification, Hohdatsu et al. (1993). For detection of antibodies against FIV and antigen p27 of FeLV, 150 samples were tested with commercial kit of rehearsal fast immunoenzymatic (ELISA - SNAP® Combo FeLV/FIV).An indirect ELISA for FIV detection that use recombinant p24 capsid protein was also used in 120 samples, according to Alves et al. (2013),. It was obtained 18.33% (22/120) of FIV positive animals considering all tests used including Snap, ELISA and PCR.. The PCR and indirect ELISA detected 10.83% (13/120)of positive animals , whereas SNAP® Combo FeLV/FIV showed 9.17% (11/120) of positivity. Comparatively, SNAP® Combo FeLV/FIV showed better sensitivity, while indirect ELISA and PCR in the similar way better specificity (p < 0.05). The small difference of specificity (all above 90%) among the tests indicates that all of them are very specific and with high VPN being able to detect the true negative animals. Dermatological clinical signs were observed due to fungus, mites and bacteria infections in FIV positive animals. Ophthalmic alterations, lesions of the oral cavity, breathing alterations, cachexy, dehydration, lymphadenopathy, alterations genitourinary and diarrhea also were reported. The analysis of the hematological and biochemistry variations among FIV positive and FIV negative animals didn't showed significant differences (p > 0.05). The phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of the subtype B of FIV in six samples, subtype A in a sample, and, two samples not grouped with any known subtype. In addition five exclusive haplotypes were detected (Hap-1, Hap-2, Hap-3, Hap-5 and Hap-6) and a shared haplotype (Hap-4) being, the latter, more frequent. Taken together our results showed that FIV is present in the city of São Luís, Maranhao state with cats showing clinical signs suggestive of FIV infection.