Division of Neurological Sciences, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Veterinary Practice Mauro Cavalli, Locarno, Switzerland.
J Vet Intern Med. 2023 Nov-Dec;37(6):2510-2513. doi: 10.1111/jvim.16916. Epub 2023 Oct 28.
Feline morbillivirus (FeMV) is a recently discovered morbillivirus of the family Paramyxoviridae, which include several highly contagious viruses with zoonotic potential. In this case report we describe the detection of FeMV in archived brain tissue of a 2-month-old Bengal cat with nonsuppurative encephalitis from the year 2011 in Switzerland by high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Our metagenomics approach was able to obtain a full-length sequence covering the entire FeMV genome. Phylogenetic analysis showed that our FeMV strain clustered within FeMV genotype 1. We were able to detect FeMV RNA by in situ hybridization (ISH) in brain sections with inflammatory lesions and demonstrated its potential neurotropism and association with encephalitis. Our results provide further insight into this recently discovered morbillivirus and encourage further investigations into the pathogenesis and epidemiology of associated diseases in cats and potentially other species.
猫麻疹病毒（FeMV）是副黏病毒科中一种新发现的麻疹病毒，该科包括几种具有人畜共患潜力的高传染性病毒。在本病例报告中，我们通过高通量测序（HTS）描述了 2011 年瑞士一只患有非化脓性脑炎的 2 个月大孟加拉猫的存档脑组织中 FeMV 的检测。我们的宏基因组学方法能够获得全长序列，覆盖整个 FeMV 基因组。系统发育分析表明，我们的 FeMV 株在 FeMV 基因型 1 内聚类。我们能够通过原位杂交（ISH）在具有炎症病变的脑切片中检测到 FeMV RNA，并证明其潜在的神经嗜性及其与脑炎的关联。我们的结果为这种新发现的麻疹病毒提供了进一步的了解，并鼓励对猫和潜在其他物种相关疾病的发病机制和流行病学进行进一步研究。
