Feline Foamy Virus is Highly Prevalent in Free-Ranging Puma concolor from Colorado, Florida and Southern California

Abstract

Feline foamy virus (FFV) is a retrovirus that has been detected in multiple feline species, including domestic cats (Felis catus) and pumas (Puma concolor). FFV results in persistent infection but is generally thought to be apathogenic. Sero-prevalence in domestic cat populations has been documented in several countries, but the extent of viral infections in nondomestic felids has not been reported. In this study, we screened sera from 348 individual pumas from Colorado, Southern California and Florida for FFV exposure by assessing sero-reactivity using an FFV anti-Gag ELISA. We documented a sero-prevalence of 78.6% across all sampled subpopulations, representing 69.1% in Southern California, 77.3% in Colorado, and 83.5% in Florida. Age was a significant risk factor for FFV infection when analyzing the combined populations. This high prevalence in geographically distinct populations reveals widespread exposure of puma to FFV and suggests efficient shedding and transmission in wild populations.

Viral Sequences Recovered From Puma Tooth DNA Reconstruct Statewide Viral Phylogenies

“…We detected FFV in seven percent of the tooth samples, in comparison previous evaluation of other pumas from Colorado detected FFV in 61% (qPCR, detection of viral genome) or 77% (ELISA, detection of antibodies) (Kechejian et al, 2019;Dannemiller et al, 2020). We detected FIVpco in 23% of the tooth samples, which was closer to the 48% detected via qPCR from other Colorado puma blood samples (Fountain-Jones et al, 2021).…”

“…Infectious diseases have resulted in mortality of threatened puma populations, including viral spillover from domestic cats (Brown et al, 2008;Carver et al, 2016;Chiu et al, 2019;Kraberger et al, 2020). In particular, pumas are infected with several retroviruses that have been shown to reach high prevalence in populations, including a puma specific feline immunodeficiency virus (FIVpco) and feline foamy virus (FFV) (Franklin et al, 2007a,b;Lee et al, 2017;Kechejian et al, 2019). Assessment of viral infections of pumas has revealed cross-species transmission events, landscape features that influence viral structure, and disease-related die-offs in some populations (Lee et al, 2017;Chiu et al, 2019;Kraberger et al, 2020;Fountain-Jones et al, 2021).…”

Infection with Foamy Virus in Wild Ruminants—Evidence for a New Virus Reservoir?

“…Over the last 60 years, FVs have been isolated and described in different species of non-human primates (Simian FVs (SFVs)) [8], as well as in cattle (Bovine FV (BFV), in the past also called bovine syncytial virus (BSV)) [9,10], cats (Feline FV (FFV)) and horses (Equine FV (EFV)) [3,11]. Several other non-primate FVs have been reported as having been isolated or simply described in sea lions, leopards, sheep, goats, hamsters, and American bison on the basis of cross-antigenicity with known FV, specific cytopathic effects or electron microscopy analyses [10,[12][13][14][15][16]. Although FVs can be commonly isolated from infected animals, no disease has been associated with infections and, therefore, FVs are recognized as apathogenic on their own [17,18].…”

Seroprevalence of feline foamy virus in domestic cats in Poland

“…FFV-like viruses were also found in wild feline species and were detected in 35% of one such endemic to the Japanese island of Iriomote ( Felis iriomotensis ) and in one leopard cat species ( Felis bengalensis ) from Vietnam ( 24 , 29 ). Recent studies using FFVfca antigens confirmed nearly 80% FFV seroprevalence in free-ranging pumas ( Puma concolor ) ( 14 ) from different geographic regions of the US. Many attempts have been made to find any link between FFVfca prevalence and demographic variables which could help to determine the main infection risk factors.…”

“…In many hosts where FVs are prevalent, serum antibodies as well as neutralising antibodies against viral proteins have been associated with FV infection (10,11); therefore, the diagnosis is mainly based on serological tests, while molecular methods are used rather for phylogenetic studies, especially those on interspecies transmission of simian foamy viruses to different primate species and humans (4,31,34). Serological methods like neutralising tests and immunoblots were explored in FFVfca research in the past, while currently the ELISA method described by Romen et al (33) in 2006 remains the assay of choice not only in cats but also in wild feline species such as pumas (6,13,14).…”