Kennedy Uttara, Stevenson Mark, Paterson Mandy, Jaensch Susan, Hayward Doug, Clark Nicholas
School of Veterinary Science University of Queensland Gatton Queensland Australia.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Queensland Wacol Queensland Australia.
Vet Rec Open. 2024 Dec 6;11(2):e270001. doi: 10.1002/vro2.70001. eCollection 2024 Dec.
Feline respiratory tract infection poses a serious challenge in animal shelters. Potential risk factors include pathogens introduced through animals entering the shelter. We aimed to determine the proportion of animals shedding feline upper respiratory tract (URT) pathogens at the time of entry and to assess how this contributed to the burden of clinical disease and final outcomes.
Oropharyngeal and conjunctival swabs were collected from incoming cats over 11 months and tested using real-time PCR. The prevalence and distribution of pathogens were reported; causal associations with clinical disease and shelter outcomes were assessed using Bayesian generalised regression models.
On admission, 43% ( = 86) cats were shedding one or more pathogens (feline herpes virus, feline calici virus, , and ). Shedding was somewhat associated with subsequent clinical disease but not with risk of euthanasia. Animals placed into foster care were less likely (odds ratio [OR] 0.27, Bayesian credible interval [CI] 0.09‒0.78) and those enrolled into behavioural rehabilitation programmes were more likely to develop disease (OR 5, CI 2.4‒11). Kittens had a delayed time to onset of disease (daily hazard 0.39, CI 0.13‒1.2). Geriatric animals (OR 4.1, CI 1.8‒10) and those with comorbidities (OR 8.8, CI 3.5‒25) were most likely to be euthanased.
While a substantial proportion of animals were shedding pathogens on entry, animal characteristics (age and behaviour) and shelter operations (foster care) were more important in impacting the shelter's burden of clinical feline URT disease.
猫呼吸道感染对动物收容所构成了严峻挑战。潜在风险因素包括动物进入收容所时带入的病原体。我们旨在确定动物进入收容所时 shedding 猫上呼吸道（URT）病原体的比例，并评估这对临床疾病负担和最终结果有何影响。
在 11 个月内从新入院的猫中采集口咽和结膜拭子，并使用实时 PCR 进行检测。报告病原体的患病率和分布情况；使用贝叶斯广义回归模型评估与临床疾病和收容所结果的因果关联。
入院时，43%（n = 86）的猫 shedding 一种或多种病原体（猫疱疹病毒、猫杯状病毒、、和）。shedding 与随后的临床疾病有一定关联，但与安乐死风险无关。被安置到寄养家庭的动物患病可能性较小（优势比[OR] 0.27，贝叶斯可信区间[CI] 0.09 - 0.78），而参加行为康复计划的动物患病可能性更大（OR 5，CI 2.4 - 11）。小猫发病时间延迟（每日风险 0.39，CI 0.13 - 1.2）。老年动物（OR 4.1，CI 1.8 - 10）和患有合并症的动物（OR 8.8，CI 3.5 - 25）最有可能被安乐死。
虽然相当一部分动物在进入时 shedding 病原体，但动物特征（年龄和行为）和收容所运营（寄养）对影响收容所猫 URT 临床疾病负担更为重要。 （注：“shedding”这个词在医学语境中可能有特定含义，但未找到准确对应中文，保留英文以便理解原文准确意思）
