Control of feline immunodeficiency virus infection - resubmission

猫免疫缺陷病毒（FIV）感染了英国大约50万只家猫。受感染的猫可能出现多种感染、肿瘤和神经症状。在我们调查感染猫的情况时，53%的猫死亡或被安乐死，25%的猫反复发病，22%的猫保持健康。控制FIV感染需要一种安全有效的疫苗。然而，开发疫苗存在许多障碍，特别是因为病毒不断改变其外壳，从而躲避免疫系统。此外，受感染的猫不会从感染中恢复过来；流感病毒会引发免疫反应，清除体内的病毒，而FIV感染会持续存在。我们的目标是设计实验室技术，以确定一只受感染的猫是否有可能在几年内保持健康，还是更有可能患上绝症并需要安乐死。这些信息将有助于兽医和饲主管理每只受感染的猫，并有助于为受感染的动物找到新家。我们的第二个目标是确定为什么某些病毒分离株比其他病毒分离株引起更严重的疾病。如果我们能够确定与受感染猫的疾病相关的病毒株的主要特征，我们将能够更适当地组织治疗和管理。

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infects approximately 500 thousand domestic cats in the UK. Infected cats may develop numerous infections, tumours and display neurological signs. In our survey to find out what happened to infected cats, 53% died or were euthanased, 25% suffered recurrent episodes of illness and 22% remained healthy. To control FIV infection requires a safe, effective vaccine. However there are many obstacles to developing a vaccine, particularly because the virus continually changes its outer shell and thus hides from the immune system. Moreover, infected cats do not recover from infection; whereas influenza virus triggers an immune response that clears virus from the body, FIV infection persists. We aim to devise laboratory techniques that can determine whether an infected cat is likely to remain well for some years or whether it is more likely to become terminally ill and require euthanasia. This information will assist veterinarians and owners to manage each infected cat and will assist in the re-homing of infected animals. Our second aim is to determine why some virus isolates cause more serious disease than others. If we can identify the main characteristics of a strain of virus that are associated with disease in infected cats, we will be able to structure therapy and management more appropriately.