Introduction

Feline retroviral infections are common in domestic cats causing AIDS-like diseases like feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), or neoplastic diseases like feline leukemia virus (FeLV).

Objectives

Our aim was to characterize these retroviral infections among domestic cats, examine the prevalence in Hungary, and to make a phylogenetic analysis from the discovered strains.

Methods

Prevalence data were counted after examination of EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood samples of client-owned cats in Hungary. We carried out ELISA snap tests and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on each specimen. Sequence analysis was done only on PCR-positive strains. In case of both viruses, amplification of pol and env sequences was performed. Individual sequence text files in FASTA-format were created after alignment of both unidirectional electropherograms. Multiple sequence alignments were performed with ClustalW software, accepting the default parameters. Phylogenetic trees were created with BioEdit software with maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic analysis.

Results

In this survey we collected more than 300 blood specimens and phylogenetic analyses were carried out on those contained FIV and/or FeLV. Data of pol and env sequences showed, that Hungary has mostly subtype A strains of FIV, which correlates to data provided by surrounding countries.

Conclusions

This study filled a gap of European feline retroviral surveys, providing information of Hungarian distribution of FIV and FeLV strains among domestic cats. The data correlates with phylogenetics of surrounding countries, showing mainly subtype A FIV infections.