Concurrent Occurrence of Wet Form of Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) and Feline Parvovirus (FPV) Infection in a Cat

The present study conducted in the Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Man-nuthy aimed at screening parvo, rota and coronaviral infections in cat carcasses with lesions of gastroenteritis. Among the 30 cases examined, 23 turned out to be positive for parvoviral infection, of which, a single case of combined infection with coronavirus was observed. The present case describes a concurrent occurrence of wet form of FIP, FPV and Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection in a one-year-old male Persian cat with clinical signs of distended abdomen, anorexia, lethargy, respiratory distress, diarrhoea and pyrexia. A detailed post-mortem examination revealed the presence of about 50mL of moderately cloudy fluid in the peritoneum and thorax with congested liver, spleen, kidneys and catarrhal gastroenteritis. The positive reaction to Rivalta test indicated wet form of FIP and further confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for feline coronavirus (FCoV) by targeting M gene. The case was screened for Feline parvovirus (FPV), rotavirus and E. coli employing conventional PCR targeting VP2 gene, VP6 gene and FimC gene respectively, and found positive for parvovirus and E. coli infections as well. Sequencing was done to confirm the identity of FPV followed by phylogenetic analysis to determine the relationship with previously submitted sequences of VP2 gene. Histopathology showed infiltration of inflammatory cells in lungs, hepatic congestion, renal desquamation and enteritis. Immunohistochemical analysis of corona and parvoviral antigen revealed the localization of the viruses in intestine, mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, liver and thymus. The present case study established the concurrent occurrence of various feline enteric viruses with bacterial co-infection emphasising the requisite of routine screening for multiple infections so as to aid in modified therapeutic and preventive strategies.