Interesting.
I don't really believe that 72% are false positives. I think the percentages of that are much lower. I think most of the problems wtih the ELISA come from improper handling of the kit. However, I like most of everything else they said in the article. The ELISA doesn't give you the final results. According to articles I've read and my vet friend, the ELISA test looks for small fragments of the virus in the blood/saliva/tears or whatever. It doesn't look for antibodies, it looks for small fragments of the virus. At this point you don't know whether the virus has replicated and spread or whether it's progressed into the white blood cells. At this point they could get rid of the virus like most cats do. The cat may not even be contagious at this point. The ELISA is a screening test only. It's just to let you know whether you need to look into this any further. I do have a very healthy kitten right now that I just took in that tested positive on her ELISA. I just mentioned it yesterday so sorry to repeat. I had a second ELISA test done that is sent to the lab for a "well test." It's just like the snap test in the office in that it looks for small fragments of the virus but it's performed a different way. That test showed a positive also. So if you're in rescue I definitely think you should test because the disease is out there but it's not as common as some think. My vet friend also said that most healthy adult cats can extinguish the virus so I agree with that part of the article. I read that somewhere else in an online article by another vet. Thanks for the article though. I'd like to read more of the stuff from this group. “I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t….the pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.” – Mark Twain Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:27:08 -0800 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [Felvtalk] testing cats As I continue to try to learn as much as possible about this illness and testing the kitten I found, I came across this post on the Best Friends site questioning the testing process. I was wondering if anyone had any comments on its contents?Thanks http://network.bestfriends.org/groups/smitten_by_kittens/pages/feline-leukemia-testing-why-are-you-wasting-your-money.aspx _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
_______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
