RE: need help - a negative, later positive - ?

[MacKenzie, Kerry N.]

Title: Message

 

>>>> if a cat tests positive, it means it's been exposed to the virus.<<<

Is that always necessarily the case? I thought tests weren't 100% accurate---that they can give the wrong result? (False positive?)

 

 

 

 -----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of TenHouseCats
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 2:07 PM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: need help - a negative, later positive - ?

well, this is where we have to get the science people in.... if a cat tests positive, it means it's been exposed to the virus. i would THINK that if it's gonna be able to throw the virus off (develop an immunity to the virus), it's gonna do that anyway. ie, if it's a healthy cat to start with who is in the process of expelling the virus (or whatever the technical term is), i don't think that further exposure is cumulative.

i know of one cat who tested positive, went to live with a household of 20+ felvs, and was never retested. well, after major trauma, including a 1500-mile transport, said cat surprisingly gave birth to five heatlhy kittens--retesting her and all the kittens produced all negative results....

one of the rescues i'm working with re: felvs has an immunology doctoral student who is helping me understand more of the science--this is one of the things i need to run by her! obviously, we do NOT want to infect any negative cats!

(tho part of the problem with all the mis-information re: FeLV is that even people with the facilities to segregate a possible-positive foster are afraid to--remember, there are still people relinquishing their beloved FeLVs to sanctuaries because their friends and family won't visit because they're sure that either they or their cats will catch the FeLV that way....)

education again--people who find out that FeLV is not transmitted by a glance across a crowded room WILL isolate a cat for the purposes of retesting when given adequate info...
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