Association between feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) plasma viral RNA load, concentration of acute phase proteins and disease severity.

Veterinarians have few tools to predict the rate of disease progression in FIV-infected cats. In contrast, in HIV infection, plasma viral RNA load and acute phase protein concentrations are commonly used as predictors of disease progression. This study evaluated these predictors in cats naturally infected with FIV.

Validation of real-time polymerase chain reaction tests for diagnosing feline immunodeficiency virus infection in domestic cats using Bayesian latent class models.

The objectives of the current study were to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of three real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for diagnosis of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection in domestic cats, both individually and when interpreted in series with one of two serological tests, separately in populations of cats at low and high risk of being infected with FIV. One PCR test targeted the pol gene and two targeted the gag gene of FIV. For comparison, sensitivities and specificities of the individual serological tests (IDEXX SNAP(®) test and AGEN Simplify(®) test) were also estimated.