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TDK conference 2020Varga Zoltán - year 6 University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Department of Pathology Supervisor: Dr. Anna Szilasi In 2018, the first orthohepadna virus was isolated in domestic cats in Australia. Further research has shown that the incidence of liver dystrophy and hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher in addition to frequent co-infection with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Our research aims to examine whether feline hepadnavirus can be found in the Hungarian cat population, and whether the finding will be in correlation with previously published studies that a large percentage of animals infected with the virus may show deviation in liver parameters. The cats involved in the research were chosen independetly of sex, breed, age, and of other diseases, thus ensuring the widest possible coverage. Later we divided the animals into two groups, whether there was an increase in liver parameters or not. The method of our study, after nucleic acid extraction from whole blood, was real-time polymerase chain reaction assay (real-time PCR). Out of 145 feline whole blood samples, we found 8 PCR- positive cases (5.52%). This result is in correlation with previously published scientific data. Unfortunately, now we could not find any correlation with elevated liver parameters in bloodwork, or any hepatic lesion, nor parallel retroviral infection in DCH-positive patients. Continuing this study, we will analyse the isolated DCH-strains with Sanger sequencing, then we will make a phylogenetic study comparing our sequences to those can be found currently in the GenBank. List of lectures |