Université de Lyon, Université Lyon1, CNRS, UMR 5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, 43 Bd du 11 Novembre 1918, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France.
Prev Vet Med. 2011 Sep 1;101(3-4):250-64. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2011.04.020. Epub 2011 Jun 25.
In natural populations, virus circulation is influenced by host behavior and physiological characteristics. Cat populations exhibit a great variability in social and spatial structure, the existence of different ways of life within a same population may also result in different epidemiological patterns. To test this hypothesis, we used a logistic regression to analyze the risk factors of Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), feline herpes virus (FHV), feline calicivirus (FCV), and feline parvovirus (FPV) infection in owned (fed and sheltered) and unowned (neither fed nor sheltered, unsocialized) cats living in a rural environment in the North Eastern part of France. A serological survey was carried out in 492 non-vaccinated and non-sterilized individuals from 15 populations living in the same area. The prevalence of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) was also studied, but too few were infected to analyze the risk factors of this virus. For each virus, the epidemiological pattern was different in owned and unowned cats. Unowned cats were more frequently infected by directly transmitted viruses like FIV, FHV and FCV (21.22%, 67.66%, 86.52% in unowned cats vs 9.55%, 53.88%, 77.18% in owned cats, respectively), a difference that may be explained by a more solitary and more aggressive behavior in unowned adults, and/or possibly by a higher sensitivity related to a more stressful life. On the contrary, owned cats were more frequently infected with FPV (36.41% in owned cats vs 15.61% in unowned cats), possibly as a result of their concentration around human settlements. The present study showed that owned and unowned cats living in a same area have behavioral and physiological characteristics sufficiently different to influence virus circulation. Pooling different types of cats in a single sample without taking it into account could give a wrong picture of the epidemiology of their viruses. The conclusion of this work can be extended to any epidemiological studies led in wildlife species with flexible behavior as any variations in social or spatial structure, between or within populations, could result in different virus circulation.
在自然种群中，病毒的传播受到宿主行为和生理特征的影响。猫种群在社会和空间结构上表现出很大的变异性，同一群体中存在不同的生活方式，也可能导致不同的流行病学模式。为了验证这一假设，我们使用逻辑回归分析了在法国东北部农村环境中饲养（喂养和庇护）和未饲养（既不喂养也不庇护，未社会化）的猫中感染猫免疫缺陷病毒（FIV）、猫疱疹病毒（FHV）、猫杯状病毒（FCV）和猫细小病毒（FPV）的危险因素。对来自同一地区 15 个群体的 492 只未接种疫苗和未绝育的个体进行了血清学调查。还研究了猫白血病病毒（FeLV）的流行情况，但感染的个体太少，无法分析这种病毒的危险因素。对于每种病毒，饲养和未饲养的猫的流行病学模式都不同。未饲养的猫更容易感染直接传播的病毒，如 FIV、FHV 和 FCV（未饲养的猫中分别为 21.22%、67.66%和 86.52%，而饲养的猫中分别为 9.55%、53.88%和 77.18%），这种差异可能是由于未饲养的成年猫更孤独、更具攻击性，或者可能与更具压力的生活有关的更高敏感性。相反，饲养的猫更容易感染 FPV（饲养的猫中为 36.41%，未饲养的猫中为 15.61%），这可能是由于它们聚集在人类住区周围。本研究表明，生活在同一地区的饲养和未饲养的猫具有足够不同的行为和生理特征，这会影响病毒的传播。如果不考虑这些差异，将不同类型的猫混合在一个样本中可能会对它们的病毒流行病学产生错误的认识。这项工作的结论可以扩展到任何在行为灵活的野生动物物种中进行的流行病学研究，因为任何种群之间或种群内部的社会或空间结构的变化都可能导致不同的病毒传播。
