INVESTIGATION OF A FELINE PANLEUKOPAENIA VIRUS INFECTION IN VACCINATED ARABIAN SAND CATS (FELIS MARGARITA HARRISONI)

Summary Post-mortem findings following the sudden death of 2 Arabian sand cat kittens at the Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation indicated a feline panleukopaenia (FPLV) infection as the probable cause of death. FPLV was confirmed, albeit indirectly, by PCR in the intestinal swabs of the kittens. Since the kittens had been vaccinated a little over 2 weeks before death, with a modified live vaccine (MLV) against FPLV, the question arose of whether the disease was vaccine-induced or a result of vaccination failure. Further investigations carried out on the surviving littermate and mother of the kittens, as well as a sero-survey in a sample of the AWWP sand cat population, contributed to the understanding of the persistence of virus in sand cats and the efficacy of the vaccination protocol at AWWP. Viral DNA was detected in rectal swabs of 2 apparently healthy sand cats up to 6 weeks after vaccination, which is significantly longer than the duration of faecal virus shedding reported in the literature. The sero-survey demonstrated that the antibody titres to vaccination with a MLV in sand cats are similar to those in domestic animals with haemagglutination inhibition titres of 1:80 to 1:160 recorded in all sand cats studied. The findings of this study helped re-evaluate the vaccination protocol at AWWP to minimize the possibility of vaccination failures and adequately protect animals from potentially fatal infection.