Abstract
The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led the medical and scientific community to address questions surrounding the pathogenesis and clinical presentation of COVID-19; however, relevant clinical models outside of humans are still lacking. In felines, a ubiquitous coronavirus, described as feline coronavirus (FCoV), can present as feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)—a leading cause of mortality in young cats that is characterized as a severe, systemic inflammation. The diverse extrapulmonary signs of FIP and rapidly progressive disease course, coupled with a closely related etiologic agent, present a degree of overlap with COVID-19. This paper will explore the molecular and clinical relationships between FIP and COVID-19. While key differences between the two syndromes exist, these similarities support further examination of feline coronaviruses as a naturally occurring clinical model for coronavirus disease in humans.
Highlights
Relationships between COVID-19In the 1960s, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) was described as a disease in domestic cats and later recognized to be of a viral etiology, feline coronavirus (FCoV) [1,2].In a majority of cats, infection with FCoV results in mild to inapparent clinical signs; a small subset will develop severe illness and succumb to the systemic form of the disease, known as FIP [3]
The widespread transmission of FCoV/SARSCoV-2 and the insidious onset of severe signs for both FIP and COVID-19 limits the ability for early disease detection—what may begin as only mild or even inapparent clinical signs or symptoms can rapidly lead to systemic disease [3,4]
In the it has been suggested that extrapulmonary signs are due to viral-mediated endotheliitis, sections, we describe these extrapulmonary signs and point out key similarities and leading to vasculitis, primarily in veins with little arteriolar involvement [48,49]
Summary
In the 1960s, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) was described as a disease in domestic cats and later recognized to be of a viral etiology, feline coronavirus (FCoV) [1,2]. In a majority of cats, infection with FCoV results in mild to inapparent clinical signs; a small subset will develop severe illness and succumb to the systemic form of the disease, known as FIP [3]. The widespread transmission of FCoV/SARSCoV-2 and the insidious onset of severe signs for both FIP and COVID-19 limits the ability for early disease detection—what may begin as only mild or even inapparent clinical signs or symptoms can rapidly lead to systemic disease [3,4]. We believe that FIP may represent a valuable, naturally occurring extrapulmonary model of COVID-19. Both FCoV and SARS-CoV-2 belong to the family Coronaviridae [4,5], albeit in distinct genera (Figure 1). FCoV along with similar animal coronaviruses, such as canine coronavirus (CCoV) and transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) in pigs, belong to the genus alphacoronavirus.
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