• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.333-338
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• 2013

We investigated the prevalence of feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) in stray and household cats in different regions of Seoul, Republic of Korea. Blood samples were collected from a total of 200 cats (100 stray cats and 100 household cats) and examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The overall prevalence of FPV was 2%. Among test-positive cats, 3% (3/100) were stray cats and 1% (1/100) was a household cat. The incidence of FPV was higher in juvenile cats (< 1 year, 1.5%) than in adult cats (> 1-year-old, 0.5%). The FPV-positive rates of healthy infected cats and sick cats were 1.9% (3/156) and 2.2% (1/44), respectively. We found the positive rate of vaccinated and unvaccinated cats to be 1.3% (1/77) and 2.4% (3/123), respectively. Unlike antibody tests, FPV antigen tests detected current infections in stray and household cats. Therefore, these tests can help in disease diagnosis and treatment. To our knowledge, our study is the first to survey the prevalence of FPV in different cat populations across Seoul. We found a high prevalence of FPV infection in stray and juvenile cats. Therefore, proper vaccination and surveillance are important to prevent FPV outbreaks.