Neutralisation patterns among recent British and North American feline calicivirus isolates from different clinical origins.

The neutralisation patterns of 103 recent isolates of feline calicivirus from cats with chronic stomatitis or acute feline calicivirus disease, and from cats with neither oral nor respiratory disease were compared. There were no statistically significant differences between the proportions of isolates from each clinical source neutralised by individual feline calicivirus cat antisera. Different antisera showed widely differing degrees of cross reactivity; antisera to the most widely used vaccine strain F9 being the most cross reactive, neutralising 54 per cent of all the field isolates, and antisera to a field isolate LS015 the next most cross reactive, neutralising 29 per cent of the field isolates. However, the cross reactivity of antisera to early British isolates (A4, 68/40 and 69/1112) was much reduced (overall less than 10 per cent) whereas in the early 1970s 65 per cent of 117 field isolates from clinically normal cats were neutralised by A4 antiserum, and 40 per cent by each of 68/40 and 69/1112 antisera. This suggests a change in the spectrum of antigenicity among feline calicivirus isolates over the past 15 years. However, the cross reactivity of F9 antisera appeared to be similar to that in earlier studies. The relevance of these findings to vaccination is discussed.