Feline calicivirus carrier state. A study of the host/virus relationship

The inter-epidemic phase of feline calicivirus was studied in a number of cats. During this period animals asymptomatically shed infective virus which was monitored at a number of sites and during different environmental conditions. Analysis of the amounts of virus shed by different cats showed that excretion occurred almost exclusively from the oropharynx, fluctuated with time, but was not influenced by periods of natural or artificial stress. Viral excretion from one individual cat was fairly constant although it appears that cats might be divided into high, medium or low level excretors. This variation in levels of excretion appears to have epidemiological importance in that high-level excretors more easily infect susceptible individuals.