Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Performance of 4 Point-of-Care Screening Tests for Feline Leukemia Virus and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus.
- Journal:
- Journal of veterinary internal medicine
- Year:
- 2017
- Authors:
- Levy, J K et al.
- Affiliation:
- College of Veterinary Medicine · United States
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
In the U.S., over 3 million cats are infected with feline leukemia virus (FeLV) or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Researchers tested four different quick tests to see how well they could identify these viruses using samples from various sources, including animal shelters and veterinary clinics. They found that the SNAP test was the most accurate for detecting FeLV, while the other tests performed similarly for FIV. However, in typical cat populations where only a small percentage are actually infected, many positive results from these tests could be false alarms, potentially leading to unnecessary isolation or even euthanasia of healthy cats. Overall, while the SNAP test is reliable for FeLV, caution is needed with all tests to avoid misdiagnosis.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: More than 3 million cats in the United States are infected with FeLV or FIV. The cornerstone of control is identification and segregation of infected cats. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To compare test performance with well-characterized clinical samples of currently available FeLV antigen/FIV antibody combination test kits. ANIMALS: Surplus serum and plasma from diagnostic samples submitted by animal shelters, diagnostic laboratories, veterinary clinics, and cat research colonies. None of the cats had been vaccinated against FIV. The final sample set included 146 FeLV+, 154 FeLV-, 94 FIV+, and 97 FIV- samples. METHODS: Prospective, blind comparison to a gold standard: Samples were evaluated in 4 different point-of-care tests by ELISA antigen plate tests (FeLV) and virus isolation (FIV) as the reference standards. All test results were visually read by 2 blinded observers. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity, respectively, for FeLV were SNAP(100%/100%), WITNESS(89.0%/95.5%), Anigen(91.8%/95.5%), and VetScan(85.6%/85.7%). Sensitivity and specificity for FIV were SNAP(97.9%/99.0%), WITNESS(94.7%/100%), Anigen(96.8%/99.0%), and VetScan(91.5%/99.0%). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The SNAPtest had the best performance for FeLV, but there were no significant differences for FIV. In typical cat populations with seroprevalence of 1-5%, a majority of positive results reported by most point-of-care test devices would be false-positives. This could result in unnecessary segregation or even euthanasia.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28158913/