Showing posts with label cat carriers of disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cat carriers of disease. Show all posts

Friday, 23 May 2014

Horizontal Transmission of Feline Diseases

Horizontal transmission means that a disease is transferred from one individual cat to another or others as opposed to vertical transmission when the disease is transferred from a mother to her offspring.

Infection can be transmitted both when a cat is going through the acute phase of a disease and is ill or during the incubation period before the cat becomes ill.  In addition, recovered cats can be carriers.  They are healthy but spread infection.

Horizontal transmission can be by direct cat-to-cat contact or via an inanimate objects or through the air.

In direct contact a part of an animal makes contact with the part of another animal such as when one cat grooms another with his tongue.  Fighting is another example.  Disease can be transmitted through sexual intercourse in cats. This is not a "significant route of infection in the UK"1.
Contact via a cat fight. Photo by ilovebutter

In indirect contact two or more animals come into contact with the same intermediary object.  It might be bedding material or a feeding bowl.

While some infectious agents (pathogens) can remain viable in the environment from long-time, particularly in favourable conditions such as dark and damp conditions, they are frequently fragile organisms which are easily killed by disinfectants, drying out, heat and light.

Feline parvovirus can survive for very long periods in the environment.  In general, infectious agents that are transmitted indirectly are hardy and more difficult to kill using the usual methods.

We are all aware of the airborne method of spreading disease.  The infection is spread in droplets produced when the cat coughs or sneezes.  This method of transmission is particularly important with respect to respiratory diseases.

Finally, some infectious agents don't pass directly from one individual to another but they spend part of their life cycle on or in another host with a vector for transmission.  The example is the tapeworm affecting cats.  Small rodents are used as an intermediate host and fleas as the vector.  I have a page on that.

1. The Welfare of Cats K. Sturgess.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Cat Carrier Of an Infectious Disease

Any animal including the human animal can be a carrier of infectious disease.  In relation to the domestic cat a carrier of an infectious disease is a cat that does not show clinical signs of the disease but whose body harbours the disease-producing organism and may continue to excrete it. Carrier cats a very important in the study, science and transmission and spread of infectious diseases in cats.

An example of a disease that can be carried by cat were the cat has no apparent symptoms (asymptomatic) is toxoplasmosis but more important diseases feline leukaemia virus disease complex can also be carried asymptomatically. Feline intestinal toxoplasmosis is usually asymptomatic.

In multi-cat households and in catteries there maybe 20 to 30% of cats showing the presence of feline leukaemia virus in the blood.

Following exposure to the virus cats respond in different ways and about 5 to 10% of cats develop a latent infection. They produce virus-neutralising antibodies which eliminates the virus from the blood and saliva but does not extinguish the virus completely as it persists in the bone marrow. Sometimes these cats go on to extinguish the virus completely while for other cats the disease may become activated when the cat is stressed or has another illness.

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