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Intra-vitam diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a challenge for veterinary diagnosticians, since there are no highly specific and sensitive assays currently available. With the aim to contribute to fill this diagnostic gap, a total of 61 effusions from cats with suspected effusive FIP were collected intra-vitam for detection of feline coronavirus (FCoV) antibodies and RNA by means of indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) assay and real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR), respectively. In 5 effusions there was no evidence for either FCoV RNA or antibodies, 51 and 52 specimens tested positive by IIF and qRT-PCR, respectively, although antibody titres≥1:1600, which are considered highly suggestive of FIP, were detected only in 37 effusions. Three samples with high antibody levels tested negative by qRT-PCR, whereas 18 qRT-PCR positive effusions contained no or low-titre antibodies. qRT-PCR positive samples with low antibody titres mostly contained low FCoV RNA loads, although the highest antibody titres were detected in effusions with C T values>30. In conclusion, combining the two methods, i.e., antibody and RNA detection would help improving the intra-vitam diagnosis of effusive FIP., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In 2003, a novel calicivirus, the vesivirus (VeV) strain 2117, was identified incidentally as a contaminant in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell cultures by a German pharmaceutical company. Similar contaminations have been documented in three additional episodes, in bio-reactors used for production of recombinant drugs. More, recently 2117-like VeVs have also been identified at high prevalence in the stools from asymptomatic kennel dogs and only sporadically in diarrhoeic and healthy household dogs. In this study, antibodies for 2117-like viruses were detected in 21.5% of sera from household dogs, indicating that they are common viruses in the canine host., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)