DEVELOPMENT OF A NESTED PCR ASSAY FOR DETECTION OF FELINE INFECTIOUS PERITONITIS VIRUS IN CLINICAL SPECIMENS

A diagnostic test for feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) infec tion based on a nested PCR (nPCR) assay was developed and tested with FIPV, feline enteric coronavirus (FECV), canine coronavirus (CCV), and transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) and clinical fluid samples from cats with effusive feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). The targ et sequence for the assay is in the S1 region of the peplomer protein E2 gene, A vaccine strain of FIPV and two wild-type FIPV strains teste d positive, but FECV, TGEV, and CCV tested negative, Preliminary tests with 12 cats with clinical evidence of effusive FIP and 11 cats with an illness associated with effusions, but attributed to other causes, were performed. Eleven of the 12 cats with effusive FIP tested positiv e, while 1 was negative, Ten of the 11 cats ill from other causes test ed negative, while 1 was positive. On the basis of clinical laboratory and histopathologic criteria, the preliminary sensitivity and specifi city of the assay were 91.6 and 94%, respectively.