WHAT'S NEW WITH FELINE HERPESVIRUS

摘要

FHV-1 infection is very common in cats and it is probably the leading cause of conjunctivitis and keratitis. FHV-1 lives 18 hours or less in the environment and is killed by most disinfectants. The virus will remain viable less than one hour in both fluorescein stain and proparacaine but will survive up to five days in eye wash solutions. Because of the large quantities of virus being shed, transmission occurs primarily through the respiratory secretions of cats with acute infection. The virus has the ability to become latent in neural tissue and reactivation of replication and shedding is common. Virus shedding may or may not cause recurrence of clinical disease. Infection will become latent in approximately 80% of cats infected with FHV-1. Duringlatency, the virus is inactive, usually residing in the sensory ganglion of the trigeminal nerve. In approximately half of cats latently infected with virus, intermittent virus shedding occurs. It is thought that only a small proportion of these cats actually show clinical signs of disease.