Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus associated with fatal disease in progressively infected cats. While testing/removal and vaccination led to a decreased prevalence of FeLV, recently, this decrease has reportedly stagnated in some countries. This study aimed to prospectively determine the prevalence of FeLV viraemia in cats taken to veterinary facilities in 32 European countries. FeLV viral RNA was semiquantitatively detected in saliva, using RT-qPCR as a measure of viraemia. Risk and protective factors were assessed using an online questionnaire to report geographic, demographic, husbandry, FeLV vaccination, and clinical data. The overall prevalence of FeLV viraemia in cats visiting a veterinary facility, of which 10.4% were shelter and rescue cats, was 2.3% (141/6005; 95% CI: 2.0%-2.8%) with the highest prevalences in Portugal, Hungary, and Italy/Malta (5.7%-8.8%). Using multivariate analysis, seven risk factors (Southern Europe, male intact, 1-6 years of age, indoor and outdoor or outdoor-only living, living in a group of ≥5 cats, illness), and three protective factors (Northern Europe, Western Europe, pedigree cats) were identified. Using classification and regression tree (CART) analysis, the origin of cats in Europe, pedigree, and access to outdoors were important predictors of FeLV status. FeLV-infected sick cats shed more viral RNA than FeLV-infected healthy cats, and they suffered more frequently from anaemia, anorexia, and gingivitis/stomatitis than uninfected sick cats. Most cats had never been FeLV-vaccinated; vaccination rates were indirectly associated with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. In conclusion, we identified countries where FeLV was undetectable, demonstrating that the infection can be eradicated and highlighting those regions where awareness and prevention should be increased.

• Keywords
• FeLV, RT-qPCR, gross domestic product at purchasing power parity per capita, prevalence, protective factors, retrovirus, risk factors, vaccination, veterinary sciences, virus shedding,
• MeSH
• Tumor Virus Infections diagnosis   epidemiology   veterinary   MeSH
• Cats MeSH
• Cat Diseases diagnosis   epidemiology   MeSH
• Protective Factors MeSH
• Prevalence MeSH
• Prospective Studies MeSH
• Retroviridae Infections diagnosis   epidemiology   veterinary   MeSH
• Risk Factors MeSH
• Saliva virology   MeSH
• Viremia diagnosis   epidemiology   veterinary   MeSH
• Leukemia Virus, Feline isolation & purification   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Cats MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Europe epidemiology   MeSH

Human toxocarosis is one of the most widespread and prevalent helminthic zoonosis in many countries, including Slovakia. The aim was to evaluate the usefulness of IgA anti-Toxocara antibody detection in the serodiagnosis of toxocarosis. The levels of specific IgA antibodies were determined by excretory-secretory (ES)-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The IgA seropositivity in IgG anti-Toxocara seropositive patients (n = 52) was 32.7% and found to be highest in the oldest age groups (P = 0.026). The presence of IgA in suspected patients for toxocarosis were evaluated in respect to some characteristics of examined persons. Substantially higher IgA seropositivity was detected in patients with increased total IgE (44.8%) than in subjects with a normal level of IgE (17.4%; P = 0.036). No associations (P > 0.05) were found between IgA seropositivity and sex, level of specific IgG antibodies, avidity of IgG, eosinophilia, domicile, geophagia, traveling abroad, dog/cat ownership, or clinical symptoms. The IgA-ELISA showed sensitivity of 57.1% and specificity of 100%. Mild correlations (r = 0.302, r = 0.305, r = - 0.409) were observed between the levels of anti-Toxocara IgA antibodies and age, the amounts of eosinophils and IgA antibody levels, the amounts of eosinophils, and the values of IgG avidity, respectively. The presence of anti-Toxocara IgA may facilitate the diagnosis of toxocarosis and may well be useful for the determination of acute Toxocara infection. Moreover, this test should be accompanied by other immunological markers of examined patients (e.g., increased total IgE, eosinophilia, and low-avidity IgG antibodies).

• MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Immunoglobulin E immunology   MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic immunology   MeSH
• Antibodies, Helminth immunology   MeSH
• Aged, 80 and over MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Sensitivity and Specificity MeSH
• Serum Bactericidal Antibody Assay MeSH
• Toxocara immunology   MeSH
• Toxocariasis diagnosis   immunology   MeSH
• Age Factors MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Aged, 80 and over MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Slovakia MeSH
• Names of Substances
• anti-IgA MeSH Browser
• anti-IgG MeSH Browser
• Immunoglobulin E MeSH
• Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic MeSH
• Antibodies, Helminth MeSH