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Outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis in Cyprus

Article provided and translated with permission Danielle Gunn-Moore.
Original article: VetRecord, Volume192, Issue 11, 3/10 June 2023, Pages 449-450, published 6/2/2023.

Colleagues and the public are alerted to an outbreak of Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) in Cyprus that broke out in the capital city of Nicosia in January 2023. An increasing number of cases have been reported in the districts of Larnaca, Limassol and Famagusta. Within 12 weeks, the number of PCR-confirmed FIP cases increased more than 20-fold compared to the previous year.

Biopsies of cavitary fluids, abdominal lymph nodes by fine needle aspiration or tissue biopsies of cats with clinical signs consistent with FIP were sent to Vet Dia Gnosis in Limassol. After cytological or histopathological examination, samples were subjected to automated extraction of total nucleic acid and RT-PCR for the detection of feline coronaviruses (FCoV) at Laboklin Bad Kissingen, Germany. 1

Three and four PCR-confirmed FIP cases were reported in 2021 and 2022, respectively, while 98 PCR-confirmed FIP cases were reported from January to April 2023.

Outbreaks of FIP have already been documented in the UK, USA and Taiwan, but only in breeding facilities and trapping centres. 2-4 This outbreak spread very quickly in different districts of the island, with local veterinarians reporting clinical cases even in cats living exclusively indoors. This is extremely alarming and suggests that there is a highly virulent strain of FCoV in Cyprus that can potentially be transmitted by mechanical vectors. We therefore recommend that cats be kept indoors.

Paphos district is geographically the farthest from Nicosia and has not yet seen an increase in cases.

To prevent the spread of this strain of FCoV outside the island, we encourage veterinarians to serologically test every cat before it travels outside Cyprus. No seropositive cat should travel outside of Cyprus until we have a better understanding of the current outbreak. Ideally, if the cat is allowed to travel, it should be kept indoors for 10 to 14 days and retested, as acutely infected cats are likely to seroconvert later. 5

The disease spread very quickly in different districts of Cyprus, indicating that a highly virulent strain of feline coronavirus is present on the island.

Introducing travel measures for cats traveling from Cyprus must be a priority for the UK. This is due to the high number of animals traveling between the two countries, which reflects the existing historical ties; parts of Cyprus are British Overseas Territories and there are significant numbers of British expatriates residing in Cyprus permanently or seasonally. In the past we have seen the introduction of other infectious agents into the UK via dogs traveling from Cyprus, for example Hepatozoon canis and Leishmania infantum. 6

We are currently analyzing FCoV before and during the outbreak, and we are implementing an epidemiological monitoring system. This will provide us with important information regarding this highly virulent strain and help us understand what is causing this epidemic and how we can control its impact on the cat population and the risk of spreading to other countries.

The high number of stray and free-ranging domestic cats in Cyprus is something that could potentially have played a key role in the outbreak, but there are other factors to consider, including the recent introduction of FIP treatment and the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

Charalampos Attipa, senior lecturer in veterinary clinical pathology Danielle Gunn-Moore, professor of feline medicine Stella Mazeri, EBVS European Specialist in veterinary public health Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Midlothian EH25 9RG email: charalampos.attipa@ed.ac.uk Demetris Epaminondas, vice president of the Pancyprian Veterinary Association Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Cyprus Maria Lyraki, EBVS European Specialist in small animal internal medicine Vets4Life Referral Hospital, Athens, Greece Alexandros Hardas, lecturer in veterinary anatomic pathology Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 7TA Stavroula Loukaidou, veterinary surgeon Vet Dia Gnosis Ltd, Limassol, Cyprus Michaela Gentil, veterinary surgeon Laboklin GmbH and Co KG, Bad Kissingen, Germany

References

  1. Gut M, Leutenegger CM, Huder JB, et al. One-tube fluorogenic reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for the quantitation of feline coronaviruses. J Virol Methods 1999;77:37–46
  2. Wang YT, Su BL, Hsieh LE, et al. An outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis in a Taiwanese shelter: epidemiologic and molecular evidence for horizontal transmission of a novel type II feline coronavirus. Vet Res 2013;44:57
  3. Barker EN, Tasker S, Gruffydd-Jones TJ, et al. Phylogenetic analysis of feline coronavirus strains in an epizootic outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis. J Vet Intern Med 2013;27:445–50
  4. Healey EA, Andre NM, Miller AD, et al. Outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) in shelter-housed cats: molecular analysis of the feline coronavirus S1/S2 cleavage site consistent with a 'circulating virulent-avirulent theory' of FIP pathogenesis. JFMS Open Rep 2022;8:20551169221074226
  5. Stoddart ME, Gaskell RM, Harbor DA, et al. Virus shedding and immune responses in cats inoculated with cell culture-adapted feline infectious peritonitis virus. Vet Microbiol 1988;16:145–58
  6. Attipa C, Maguire D, Solano-Gallego L, et al. Hepatozoon canis in three imported dogs: a new tick-borne disease reaching the United Kingdom. Vet Rec 2018;183:716
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