Assessing the Risk of Commercial Vaccines Against Pseudorabies Virus in Cats

Abstract

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is a zoonotic agent that causes significant economic losses in animal husbandry worldwide, and gE-deleted vaccines play an important role in its treatment in the swine industry. However, the potential risk of attenuated PRV strains in commercial vaccines for other hosts remains unclear. Especially, cats are important companion animals for human beings. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and pathogenicity of the PRV wild strain in the cat population. We found that the occurrence of PR diseases in cats is sporadic, that the attenuated PRV strain causes slight clinical signs in cats, and that the virus is excreted 3 days post-infection. Our findings will be beneficial in furthering our understanding of the epidemiology and pathogenicity of PRV in cats and implying the great risk of RPV transmission from pigs to cats.