if she finds the link/cite, PLEASE let us know! On 9/7/05, Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Everyone, > I've been discussing resistance ratios of healthy adult cats to Felv > with the vet that monitors my IBD list. She just sent this to me this > morning and knew you guys would be interested. > Nina > > Lisa...this is a question that comes up quite frequently. > The natural resistance to FeLV infection in cats older than 4 to 6 months > is very well established among feline retrovirologist. While > susceptibility to FIV remains constant throughout life, that simply is not > the case with FeLV. While it is NOT impossible to infect an adult cat, > the inoculate of FeLV has to be really significant (or repeated) in order > to infect. > > This has been shown in virtually all FeLV vaccine Challenge studies > involving adult cats. It is MOST difficult to assess efficacy of an FeLV > vaccine when using adults as controls...because they just don't get > infected. Schering Plough has turned this into a "3-year guarantee" for > their FeLV vaccine (a VERY reactive adjuvanted vaccine). This is a > 'no-brainer'...obviously! Fact is, ALL FeLV vaccines look good in the > long run because of this natural resistance. > > This phenomenon is apparently related to T-cell maturity in the individual > cat and the interaction of those lymphocytes with specific epitopes of > FeLV. > > The updated Feline Vaccination Guidelines are being written now. This > material will be included to more clearly point out this phenomenon. > > I do have a copy of the original paper...it goes back a number of years > now and was published in a virology journal...Richard Olsen (who developed > the first FeLV vaccine for Norden Laboratories) and Jennifer Royjko (sp?) > published the manuscript. I don't have that paper with me...but will try > to dig this out and send the ref if you're really interested in getting > into that. > > RBFord > > >
-- MaryChristine AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 289856892
