Yeah, it does show that persistent infection isn't necessarily inevitable when a cat is exposed and infected. It's sad that we don't know more about how often regressive vs. persistent happens. There are a lot of things I think we need with regard to information. For Christmas, I'd like some tangibles:
* an immediate treatment that can hit the virus right after exposure. Even if it's only useful for 48 hours, that would allow people with bitten cats to treat immediately, rather than to wait on the disease process. Perhaps this is unrealistic or even science fiction. I think some folks have used AZT in these cases, but that seems potentially dangerous. * a long-term treatment that allows for FeLV+ cats (and FIV+ cats) to live with their illness in a similar way to how more people are able to live with HIV infections. This is going to require lots of funding, but we need feline-friendly antiretrovirals that are less toxic. Imagine someone getting an FeLV+ diagnosis for his or her cat in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future, and while they are saddened, they know that their cat can live a full life with the right drugs–the virus will be relatively under control. * a vaccine that doesn't cause vax site sarcomas. How hard can this possibly be? Why do we not understand how this happens better after a decade of dealing with it? Why is their less vax site sarcoma prevalence in the UK and Europe vs. America, when both sides use pretty much the same vax? In my family's case, I think I would have advocated for our girl now of questionable status to be vaccinated if I didn't have to feel like I was putting her at risk for an aggressive cancer. But, my FeLV+ was isolated, and the few accidental meet-ups that they'd had were always quick and easily curtailed, so putting Callie at risk of the sarcoma didn't seem right. I'm regretting that now. On Jun 12, 2013, at 2:20 PM, Margo <toomanykitti...@earthlink.net> wrote: > > Hi Lance, > > Thanks! I don't know if I have that or not, but it sounds > interesting <G>. And it does give me some hope. > > All the best, > > Margo >
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