A survey of feline leukaemia virus antigenaemia among cats in eastern Austria: a retrospective analysis of serum samples routinely tested between 1996 and 2011

Firth, Clair L; Möstl, Karin

Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is a gammaretrovirus, first described in 1964 at the University of Glasgow. 1 Since the 1980s, significant decreases have been observed in countries with testing and vaccination programmes, [2] [3] [4] [5] while prevalence remains high in some regions. 6 In Europe, a Belgian study in 2002 calculated a prevalence of 3.8% in 346 stray cats, 7 and a study in 2009 reported a prevalence of FeLV of 3.6% among >17,000 owned felines in Germany. 5 Samples taken from healthy cats in the UK in 1989 demonstrated a prevalence of 5%, 2 while a later study of pet cats determined a prevalence of just 1.4% in clinically healthy animals in 2002. 3 Similarly, a 2011 study screening healthy cats in Ireland reported a prevalence rate of FeLV of 1.1%. 8 These lower rates appear to demonstrate the effectiveness of control programmes throughout the UK.