Watt N J, MacIntyre N J, McOrist S
Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Edinburgh, U.K.
J Comp Pathol. 1993 Jan;108(1):73-9. doi: 10.1016/s0021-9975(08)80229-0.
Feline infectious peritonitis is a multisystemic disease of domestic and exotic cats caused by a coronavirus. An outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis was investigated in a closed colony of European wildcats (Felis silvestris) at a zoological garden. Over a six-year period, a putative fading kitten syndrome occurred in six of 11 litters born and severe lesions of infectious peritonitis occurred in five of the eight wildcats retained in the colony during this period. Lesions were more acute in the early stages of the outbreak and included perivascular pyogranulomatous inflammation with exudative serositis. Lesions occurred only in males. Vascular lesions were common in the liver of all affected wildcats, serositis occurred in the abdominal and thoracic cavities in most cases and meningeal lesions were present in two cases. Immunohistochemistry with specific antisera detected viral antigen within macrophages in all lesions. This outbreak demonstrates that the lesions of feline infectious peritonitis can become modified over time and that the virus can persist in a closed colony, possibly via carrier wildcats.
猫传染性腹膜炎是由冠状病毒引起的家猫和外来猫的多系统疾病。在一家动物园的欧洲野猫（Felis silvestris）封闭群体中调查了一次猫传染性腹膜炎疫情。在六年时间里，11窝出生的幼崽中有6窝出现了疑似衰弱小猫综合征，在此期间留在群体中的8只野猫中有5只出现了严重的传染性腹膜炎病变。疫情爆发初期病变更为急性，包括血管周围脓性肉芽肿性炎症伴渗出性浆膜炎。病变仅发生在雄性身上。血管病变在所有受影响的野猫肝脏中很常见，大多数病例中腹腔和胸腔出现浆膜炎，两例出现脑膜病变。用特异性抗血清进行免疫组织化学检测在所有病变的巨噬细胞内检测到病毒抗原。这次疫情表明，猫传染性腹膜炎的病变会随着时间发生变化，并且病毒可能通过携带病毒的野猫在封闭群体中持续存在。
