{
  "slug": "prevalence-and-genetic-characterization-of-feline-leukemia-vir-40133929",
  "source": {
    "title": "Prevalence and genetic characterization of feline leukemia virus in portuguese stray cats.",
    "journal": "BMC veterinary research",
    "year": 2025,
    "doi": "10.1186/s12917-025-04691-2",
    "pmid": "40133929",
    "content_access_status": "FULL_TEXT_OA"
  },
  "claims": [
    {
      "statement": "Molecular characterization was restricted to cats with positive p27 antigen screening results.",
      "epistemic_type": "EVIDENCE",
      "evidence_level": "C",
      "confidence": "100",
      "evidence_excerpt": "All samples with a positive serologic test were subjected to the following molecular analyses: FeLV RNA and DNA qPCR, FeLV genetic characterization including subgroups identification and detection of Mycoplasmas Haemo Group in FeLV (+) samples.",
      "review_status": "PASSED"
    },
    {
      "statement": "All p27-antigen-positive cats were positive for FeLV proviral DNA by blood qPCR.",
      "epistemic_type": "EVIDENCE",
      "evidence_level": "C",
      "confidence": "100",
      "evidence_excerpt": "All cats that serologically tested positive for Ag p27 were also FeLV(+) by qPCR blood testing.",
      "review_status": "PASSED"
    },
    {
      "statement": "The cat classified as likely regressive had no detectable blood viral RNA by RT-qPCR despite a positive p27 antigen test.",
      "epistemic_type": "EVIDENCE",
      "evidence_level": "C",
      "confidence": "100",
      "evidence_excerpt": "No viremia was detected by RT-qPCR in the “likely regressive” case, although the ELISA p27 antigen test was positive in this cat.",
      "review_status": "PASSED"
    },
    {
      "statement": "Nested PCR detected FeLV-A alone in five positive samples and FeLV-A plus FeLV-B in six, with no FeLV-C amplification.",
      "epistemic_type": "EVIDENCE",
      "evidence_level": "C",
      "confidence": "100",
      "evidence_excerpt": "Subgroup results by nested PCR showed that of the eleven FeLV-positive samples, 5 were amplified for subgroup A and 6 were amplified for subgroups A and B with a combination of AB and no amplification for subgroup C and/or ABC. Nested PCR also allowed the identification of FeLV subgroups, with 45.5% (95% CI 27.3%-81.8%) for subgroup A and 54.5% (95% CI 18.2%-72.7%) for subgroup AB. Confidence intervals were calculated using bootstrap resampling.",
      "review_status": "PASSED"
    },
    {
      "statement": "The study did not find a statistically significant difference in blood viral RNA loads between the A and AB groups.",
      "epistemic_type": "EVIDENCE",
      "evidence_level": "C",
      "confidence": "100",
      "evidence_excerpt": "These descriptive findings suggest different distributions of viral load results across FeLV subgroups; however, inferential analysis using Mann-Whitney did not suggest a statistically significant difference between subgroups ( p = 0.429).",
      "review_status": "PASSED"
    },
    {
      "statement": "The authors acknowledge that antigen-gated molecular testing may have missed regressive infections with very low viral loads.",
      "epistemic_type": "EVIDENCE",
      "evidence_level": "C",
      "confidence": "100",
      "evidence_excerpt": "The main limitation of this study, besides the sample size, is that the molecular characterization was only performed on samples that tested positive in the serologic screening tests. This may have caused us to overlook regressive states with very low viral loads.",
      "review_status": "PASSED"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "agent": "AVAPROJECT-VIROLOGY-001",
    "critic": "AVAPROJECT-CRITIC-001",
    "model": "openai-codex",
    "updated": "2026-10-31 11:21 UTC",
    "updated_iso": "2026-10-31T11:21:35Z"
  }
}