Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and coronavirus disease 19 (COVID‐19): Are they similar?

Abstract

Summary SARS‐CoV‐2 has radically changed our lives causing hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide and influencing our lifestyle and habits. Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a disease of felids caused by the feline coronaviruses (FCoV). FIP has been considered irremediably deadly until the last few years. Being one of the numerous coronaviruses that are well known in veterinary medicine, information on FCoV could be of interest and might give suggestions on pathogenic aspects of SARS‐CoV‐2 that are still unclear. The authors of this paper describe the most important aspects of FIP and COVID‐19 and the similarities and differences between these important diseases. SARS‐CoV‐2 and FCoV are taxonomically distant viruses and recombination events with other coronaviruses have been reported for FCoV and have been suggested for SARS‐CoV‐2. SARS‐CoV‐2 and FCoV differ in terms of some pathogenic, clinical and pathological features. However, some of the pathogenic and immunopathogenic events that are well known in cats FIP seem to be present also in people with COVID‐19. Moreover, preventive measures currently recommended to prevent SARS‐CoV‐2 spreading have been shown to allow eradication of FIP in feline households. Finally, one of the most promising therapeutic compounds against FIP, GS‐441524, is the active form of Remdesivir, which is being used as one therapeutic option for COVID‐19.

Role of paraoxonase-1 as a diagnostic marker for feline infectious peritonitis

“…Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, TNF-and IL-1 , (Montorfano et al, 2014) enhance the oxidative stress via macrophages and neutrophils respiratory burst activity that ends in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Kumar et al, 2010). Indeed, during FIP, pro-inflammatory cytokines increase the release of the bone marrow neutrophils reservoir and decrease their apoptotic rate (Paltrinieri et al, 2008;Takano et al, 2009;Paltrinieri et al, 2020). The massive recruitment of the neutrophilic component, in turn, enhances the oxidative stress through the release of strong oxidant components.…”

Seroepidemiological and Clinicopathological Study of Feline Coronavirus (FCoV) and Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), Could Guide to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in ‘One Health’ Approach

“…The data's of this study were also used in the philosophy of 'One Health' to better understand the etiology, pathogenesis and clinicopathology of coronaviral infections, and SARS-CoVs with COVID-19. Coronavirus infections of other animals, especially those of cats, have been used by different scientists to better understand COVID-19 and comparative publications have been made within the ‗One Health' approach (Menachery et al, 2015;Ramadan and sahib 2019;ABCD 2020;Decaro et al 2020;Gollakner at al., 2020;NIAID 2020;Paltrinieri et al, 2020;Saif et al, 2020;Seah et al, 2020;Shi et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020). The coronavirus experience of veterinary medicine can guide future research in human medicine and shorten the time to achieve successful results in the development of immunogenic and safe vaccines and effective antiviral drugs.…”

“…COVID-19 and FCoV are not identical viruses taxonomically and recombination with other coronaviruses has been previously reported for FCoV and has been proposed for COVID-19. Although COVID-19 and FCoV differ in some pathogenic, clinical and pathological features, some well-known clinicopathological and immunopathogenic events in FIP in cats are also observed in people with COVID-19 (Paltrinieri et al, 2020). Identical infections have been observed in humans in the past 11 months since December 2019, similar to animals.…”

Nanotechnology advances in pathogen- and host-targeted antiviral delivery: multipronged therapeutic intervention for pandemic control

“…To improve the solubility and safety profile of the compound, nanoparticulate diphyllin has been prepared using poly (ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lactideco-glycolide) (PEG-PLGA). In a study that examines the antiviral effect of diphyllin nanoparticle against feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV), a coronavirus infecting cats but with high similarity to SARS-CoV-2 in terms of pathogenesis and disease symptoms [87], diphyllin nanoparticles not only increased the antiviral activity over free diphyllin but reduced cellular cytotoxicity in an in vitro model [84]. In another study that examines the antiviral applicability of diphyllin nanoparticles against influenza, a high-dose treatment of diphyllin nanoparticles was well tolerated in mice [41].…”