Experimental feline viral rhinotracheitis in the germfree cat.

FELINE RHmNOTRAcHErITs vIRus (feline herpesvirus) is generally considered the most important cause of respiratory disease in the domestic cat.1-' Susceptible cats inoculated intranasally with feline rhinotracheitis virus (FRV) develop acute upper respiratory disease characterized by sneezing, coughing pyrexia, leucocytosis, mucopurulent rhinotracheitis, conjunctivitis, and tonsillitis.' Early in the course of the disease, eosinophilic, intranuclear inclusion bodies are associated with focal necrosis of upper respiratory epithelium. Neutrophilic infiltration and mucosal ulceration rapidly follow, presumably as a result of secondary bacterial infection.9 The respiratory microflora, therefore, at pears to play an important role in the pathogenesis of feline viral rhinotracheitis. Distinguishing the effects of the primary pathogen from those of secondary invaders is a problem commonly encountered in the study of infectious diseases. In viral respiratory and gastrointestinal infections the role of the microbial flora is particularly difficult to determine. The objective of this study was to characterize the clinical disease and lesions produced by FRV in the absence of a microbial flora by experimentally infecting germfree cats.

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