Feline panleucopenia

FELINE PANLEUCOPENIA

Synonyms

  • Feline distemper, feline enteritis, Agranulocytosis

Definition

  • It is a highly contagious and usually fatal febrile disease of cats and other felidae caused by parvo virus charecterised by severe panleucopaenia

Etiology

  • Parvo virus

Susceptibility

  • Cats, Cheetahs, leopard, tiger

Transmission

  • Virus is shed in secretion and excretion of affected animal
  • Virus is shed in urine and feces upto 6weeks after recovery
  • Direct contact
  • Fomites

Pathogenesis

  • Feline panleucopenia virus (FPV) infects and destroys actively dividing cells in bone marrow, lymphoid tissues, intestinal epithelium and—in very young animals—cerebellum and retina.
  • In pregnant queens, the virus may spread transplacentally to cause embryonic resorption, fetal mummification, abortion, or stillbirth.
  • Infection of kittens in the perinatal period may destroy the germinal epithelium of the cerebellum, leading to cerebellar hypoplasia, incoordination, and tremor.
  • FPV induced cerebellar ataxia has become a relatively rare due to sufficient antibodies passed from the queens to their kittens to protect them during the period of susceptibility.

Clinical signs

  • Severe panleucopenia (abnormal decrease in all type of leucocytes)
  • Fever-104˚-105˚f - Diphasic– falls after 24 hours and rises about 48 hours later
  • Enteritis
  • Dehydration
  • Severe leucopenia
  • Death after second peak of temperature

Gross lesions

  • Dehydration
  • Emaciation
  • Mucopurulent exudate on nasal and lacrimal mucosa
  • Haemorrage in intestine
  • Enlarged and oedematous mesenteric lymphnodes
  • Bone marrow of long bones are yellowish or white and semi fluid

Microscopic lesions

Most commonly seen in intestine

  • Superficial epithelium of intestine undergoes desquamation
  • Remaining epithelium undergoes proliferation
  • Crypts are dilated with mucus and lined with hyperplastic epithelial cells
  • Granular eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies, are seen in lining epithelial cells
  • Necrosis of lymphocytes in follicular and paracortical regions of lymphnode, Malphigian corpuscles of spleen, cortex of thymus and Peyer’s patches
  • Intranuclear inclusions may be seen in histiocytes
  • Bone marrow – depletion of stem cell population

Diagnosis

  • Demonstration of intranuclear inclusion bodies in epithelial cells of small intestine
  • Inclusion bodies are best demonstrated in tissues fixed in acidic fixatives such as Zenker’s or Bouin’s
  • ELISA, serum neutralization, Haemagglutination inhibition

Panleuopaenia ad cerebellar hypoplasia

  • Feline panleucopaenia produce cerebellar hypoplasia in kittens
  • Intranuclear inclusion bodies are seen in cerebellum

Last modified: Monday, 19 March 2012, 5:59 AM