Thank you Sally, very informative and I will look into the books you mentioned. Next time my vet is out I will also take to her about the ELISA, thanks again Sally.
Cherie
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Faye had written she would be afraid to bring another cat into the house for
fear of introducing another "strain" of the virus...but only one type of FeLV
virus "strain" (perhaps more appropriately termed a "subgroup") is passed
from cat to cat, and that subgroup is not the one responsible for the more
devastating manifestations of the disease (lymphomas or other cancers and
nonregenerative anemia). A cat, then, becomes infected with this "A" subgroup via
contact with a cat who is in stage 5-6 of the infectious process and actively
shedding the virus. The A subgroup significantly depresses the immune system but
is not responsible for the major disease symptoms. It is through mutation and
recombination with the cat's DNA that infection proceeds to A + B, A + C or A
- B+C states. The B subgroup is the one associated with the various types! of
lyphoma or other cancerous growths, while the C subgroup is the one associated
with the severe to nonregenerative anemia/leukemia. There can be mutation
and/or recombination to include both B and C subgroups. It is possible to test
for these various subgroups, but such testing is only available in research
settings and not considered to be of interest to the general public.
Personally, I would find it useful to know what I was dealing with before a
cat actually crashes with the obvious symptoms of B or C group infection, but
until the mechanism for why the mutation/recombination occurs is understood and
so, perhaps, there would be a way to head off or forestall such a devastating
development, the knowing would be purely academic and any such testing would
be expensive and not generally available.
What we CAN learn from the testing currently available to us (ELISA, IFA and
PCR) is whether or not a cat has been exposed! to FeLV and has the virus
replicating in it system...the ELISA can tell us that about the earliest stages of
infection (1-3) as well as later stages, and a positive IFA can tell us that
the infection has already reached a later stage of infection (4-6). So if we
test with an ELISA and get a positive but an IFA to confirm is negative, then we
know there is still hope the cat may be able to clear the virus. If we then
aggressively support the immune system, this may help even the odds in the
cat's favor. If a positive ELISA is confirmed with a positive IFA, there is the
possibility the cat may be in early stage 4 of infection and a slim chance of
clearing the virus still exists, but in all liklihood the cat will remain
persistently viremic. What neither of those tests can tell us is if the infection
is latent (dormant) and may resurface at a later point in time. Only a bone
marrow reactivation test (PCR??...don't know if these are one a! nd the same)
can indicate a latent infection.
So, there is really no need to be paranoid that bringing in more cats would
therefore introduce other subgroups of virus to a population...whether or not
one of the more devastating subgroups of the virus develops is dependent on
each individual cat's immune response. However, viruses such as FIP, FIV and
FeLV are found to be more prevalent in multi-cat situations...when you have more
cats, especially more infected cats, the concept of "viral load" becomes a
factor. I have yet to find an explanation as to whether or not having many cats
already infected with the FeLV virus in a particular population provides a
greater impetus for viral mutation. If they are already infected, they can't
really become "more" infected, so whether or not continued exposure to a virus
which has already infected a cat will further the infectious process within that
cat is not clear. Certainly having a l! arge number of positive cats around un
unprotected, negative, cat would increase its chance of becoming infected.
Currently, our only real hope seems to be keeping an FeLV+ cat's life as free
of stresses to its immune system as possible, feeding it the healthiest, most
natural diet we can provide and giving supplements to support the immune
system. There are many such supplements available, including the VO (if one can
get and afford it), human interferon-alpha, Transfer Factor, and a number of
herbal agents and other antioxidants such as Vitamin C and CoQ10, etc. I would
like to find more evidence through research as to how these various
immunosupportive agents serve to boost immune function and which may be complementary,
or if using too many different supplements may be counterproductive. It IS
possible to OVERstimulate the immune system, and whether or not this also applies
to a depressed immune system is not yet clear to me.
I posted a message some time ago about a book I had recently come across, The
Nature of Animal Healing, by a Dr. Martin Goldstein, a holistic vet who has a
practice in New York, and has been quite successful in dealing with difficult
cases of cancer on which other vets had given up and told the pets' owners
there was nothing that could be done. I asked if anyone else had heard of this
vet or his work, but no one responded.
Dr. Martin Goldstein and his brother, Robert, who is also a vet and has a
practice in Connecticut, based their strategy in dealing with cancer on the work
of a human doctor/researcher, Dr. Lawrence Burton, whose theories and method
for treating cancer in humans were very controversial. Because he would never
agree to testing his theories with the "double blind" studies required by the
medical establishment, he was not taken seriously (he could not condone the
ethics of condeming one half of the! test subjects to hope without help and
probably death). He moved his practice to the Bahamas and opened a private clinic.
Dr. Robert Goldstein spent time with Dr. Burton at his clinic and studied
his theories and method of treatment, then adapted the approach for use with
animals. It basically entails doing a very thorough analysis of the patient's
blood and looking at ALL the blood values in a holistic, or inter-related
manner. Because animals can have very significant states of imbalance or disease,
yet their blood values can remain within the so-called "normal" parameters, one
has to take into consideration how an imbalance in one organ system or
another can affect the others. In particular, Dr. Burton, through his research, had
identified four specific proteins that are associated with various immune
functions, and by testing for these proteins to determine which ones are out of
balance, then supplementing with injections of th! ose proteins, with periodic
retesting to monitor progress, the intent was to restore balance to the immune
system so that the body could then proceed to heal itself. Nutritional support
and eliminating toxins is also part of the equation.
While Dr. Goldstein did specifically state in his book that this approach can
be applied to dealing with FIV, he did not say the same for FeLV, which
puzzles me greatly, and I wish I could ask him why. His implication was that immune
support and diet were the key factors in dealing with FeLV, In any case,
there is an (800) number for vets to call for consultation regarding doing such a
Bio-Nutritional Analysis on blood samples. I believe that a computer is now
used in assisting with the analyses, though this was not the case in their
early days of experimentation with this type of treatment. The Goldsteins had a
similar experience as Dr. Burton in dealing with the American Veterinary
Medic! al Association, but have chosen to ignore the skeptics and continue to save
animals lives. The book (published in '99) is very readable from a layperson's
standpoint and their case studies are both astonishing and fascinating.
I recently read in one of my horse magazines that new research is being done
regarding the immune function and certain proteins and I am curious to find
out more and whether or not this may relate to the theories/methods the
Goldstein brothers have been implementing. I wish I were in New York and could pay
Dr. Goldstein a visit. Are any of you back there in the New York/Connecticut
area familiar with the Dr.'s Goldstein and their work?
I wish I had a better computer and was more adept at doing research on the
web...I have so many unanswered questions and there must be a lot of info out
there that is not widely known that could be very useful if all the pieces were
put together like a jigsaw puzzle. An! yone out there near a university that
has a vet school with a health sciences library?
Sally in San Jose
