The role of viruses in feline lower urinary tract disease.

Viruses have been implicated as causative agents in the etiopathogenesis of some forms of feline lower urinary tract disease (LUTD). This hypothesis was supported by isolation of feline calicivirus, bovine herpesvirus 4 (strain FeCAHV), and feline syncytia-forming virus from cats with naturally occurring LUTD, and by experimental studies of induced viral urinary tract infection. Results of early clinical studies yielded contradictory results concerning the role of viruses in feline LUTD. However, recent detection of bovine herpesvirus 4 antibodies in feline serum samples and discovery of calicivirus-like particles in crystalline/matrix urethral plugs obtained from cats with naturally occurring LUTD, suggests the need to reexamine the etiopathologic role of viruses using contemporary methods of virus identification and localization.