Oral Mutian®X stopped faecal feline coronavirus shedding by naturally infected cats.

Feline coronavirus (FCoV) is common among cats living indoors in groups. In about 10% of infected cats, a potentially lethal disease, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) occurs. Virus transmission is faecal-oral. Mutian® Xraphconn (Mutian X) is a product marketed to treat cats with FIP but is also being used to stop virus shedding, although no clear guidelines exist for its use for this purpose. The aim of this study was to establish the minimum dose and treatment duration required to ensure viral clearance from the faeces of asymptomatic virus-shedding cats. In five multicat households, 29 cats naturally infected with FCoV and actively shedding virus in the faeces were given Mutian X pills. Virus shedding was monitored using reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) controlled for faecal inhibitors to ensure sensitivity. Mutian X given orally cleared the virus in 29 cats; although four cats required a repeated course to finally stop virus shedding. A dose of 4 mg/kg q24 h for four days was found to be the optimal treatment protocol: 2 mg/kg cleared only 80% of cats. Post-treatment using a sensitive RT-qPCR test was essential to ensure that virus clearance had been achieved, since failure to clear even one cat can result in re-infection of the others. Records of virus shedding by cats before treatment provided a retrospective control: significantly more cats stopped shedding virus after Mutian X than recovered from infection during the control period (p < .00001). This is the first report of the successful elimination of faecal FCoV shedding in chronically infected cats.

Time-weighted average SPME analysis for in planta determination of cVOCs.

The potential of phytoscreening for plume delineation at contaminated sites has promoted interest in innovative, sensitive contaminant sampling techniques. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) methods have been developed, offering quick, undemanding, noninvasive sampling without the use of solvents. In this study, time-weighted average SPME (TWA-SPME) sampling was evaluated for in planta quantification of chlorinated solvents. TWA-SPME was found to have increased sensitivity over headspace and equilibrium SPME sampling. Using a variety of chlorinated solvents and a polydimethylsiloxane/carboxen (PDMS/CAR) SPME fiber, most compounds exhibited near linear or linear uptake over the sampling period. Smaller, less hydrophobic compounds exhibited more nonlinearity than larger, more hydrophobic molecules. Using a specifically designed in planta sampler, field sampling was conducted at a site contaminated with chlorinated solvents. Sampling with TWA-SPME produced instrument responses ranging from 5 to over 200 times higher than headspace tree core sampling. This work demonstrates that TWA-SPME can be used for in planta detection of a broad range of chlorinated solvents and methods can likely be applied to other volatile and semivolatile organic compounds.