Feline foamy virus is highly prevalent in free-ranging puma concolor from Colorado, Florida and Southern California

Item Metadata

Dublin Core

Title

Feline foamy virus is highly prevalent in free-ranging puma concolor from Colorado, Florida and Southern California

Description

Feline foamy virus (FFV) is a retrovirus that has been detected in multiple feline species, including domestic cats (Felis catus) and pumas (Puma concolor). FFV results in persistent infection but is generally thought to be apathogenic. Sero-prevalence in domestic cat populations has been documented in several countries, but the extent of viral infections in nondomestic felids has not been reported. In this study, we screened sera from 348 individual pumas from Colorado, Southern California and Florida for FFV exposure by assessing sero-reactivity using an FFV anti-Gag ELISA. We documented a sero-prevalence of 78.6% across all sampled subpopulations, representing 69.1% in Southern California, 77.3% in Colorado, and 83.5% in Florida. Age was a significant risk factor for FFV infection when analyzing the combined populations. This high prevalence in geographically distinct populations reveals widespread exposure of puma to FFV and suggests efficient shedding and transmission in wild populations.

Bibliographic Citation

Kechejian, S. R., N. Dannemiller, S. Kraberger, C. Ledesma-Feliciano, J. Malmberg, M. Roelke Parker, M. Cunningham, R. McBride, S. P. Riley, W. T. Vickers, K. Logan, M. Alldredge, K. Crooks, M. Löchelt, S. Carver, and S. VandeWoude. 2019. Feline foamy virus is highly prevalent in free-ranging puma concolor from Colorado, Florida and Southern California. Viruses 11:359. https://doi.org/10.3390/v11040359

Creator

Kechejian, Sarah R.
Dannemiller, Nick
Kraberger, Simona
Ledesma-Feliciano, Carmen
Malmberg, Jennifer
Roelke Parker, Melody
Cunningham, Mark
McBride, Roy
Riley, Seth P D
Vickers, Winston T.
Logan, Kenneth A.
Alldredge, Mathew W.
Crooks, Kevin R.
Löchelt, Martin
Carver, Scott
VandeWoude, Sue

Subject

Feline foamy virus
Epidemiology
Retrovirus
Spumaretrovirus
Mountain lion
Puma concolor
ELISA

Extent

9 pages

Date Created

2019-04-19

Type

Article

Format

application/pdf

Language

English

Is Part Of

Viruses

Collection

Citation

Kechejian, Sarah R. et al., “Feline foamy virus is highly prevalent in free-ranging puma concolor from Colorado, Florida and Southern California,” CPW Digital Collections, accessed May 1, 2024, https://cpw.cvlcollections.org/items/show/87.