The seroepidemiological survey of cats conducted in northern part of Taiwan
in 1998 revealed that the positive rate of feline immunodeficiency virus (
FIV)-infection was 21.9% (7/32) and the rate was much higher than those of
previous reports. We succeeded in isolation of three strains of FIV from pe
ripheral blood mononuclear cells of the blood samples. Nucleotide sequences
of the env variable V3 to V5 region of the strains revealed that the isola
tes from distinct areas belong to subtype C. These data together with our p
revious report (Inada et al. 1997. Arch. Virol., 142: 1459-1467) indicate t
hat FIV subtype C is prevalent in northern part of Taiwan.