Isolation and identification of feline calicivirus and feline herpesvirus in Southern Brazil

Henzel, Andréia; Brum, Mário Celso Sperotto; Lautert, Cláudia; Martins, Mathias; Lovato, Luciane Teresinha; Weiblen, Rudi

The nasal, oral and conjunctival vias are the natural routes of infection for FCV and FHV-1 (11, 25) . Transmission occurs mainly through direct contact between infected and susceptible cats; however, indirect transmission can also occur in the case of FCV, particularly within a cattery where secretions may contaminate cages, feeding and cleaning utensils or personnel (11, 25) . Reports from cats with URTD have revealed a prevalence ranging among 20-53% for FCV and 10-34% for FHV-1 (2, 12, 16) . In the general healthy cat population from several European countries, USA and Korea, the prevalence of FCV has varied from 15% to 31% (2, 16) whereas values ranging from less than 1% to 63% have been estimated for the prevalence of FHV-1 (2, 13, 15) .