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REVIEW article

Front. Vet. Sci.

Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1665999

This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Pathology of Infectious Diseases - Volume IIView all 5 articles

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus: Current Insights into Pathogenesis, Clinical Impact, and Advances in Treatment and Vaccine Development

Provisionally accepted
  • 1STEMskills Research and Education Lab Private Limited, Faridabad, India
  • 2Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India
  • 3Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
  • 4Universidad Autonoma de Chile - Campus Providencia, Santiago, Chile
  • 5Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia, Tunja, Colombia
  • 6King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
  • 7KAUST Catalysis Center (KCC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a retrovirus that infects domestic and wild cats worldwide and causes a progressive decline in the immune system of infected cats. FIV infection is a major concern for cat owners, particularly those with outdoor cats or multi-cat households, as it can lead to chronic illness and a reduced lifespan in infected cats. The development of effective prevention and treatment strategies for FIV is essential to improve the health and welfare of cats. This review paper provides an overview of the current state of knowledge about FIV, including its epidemiology, prevalence, pathogenesis, risk factors, transmission, and management. The review also discusses the various FIV subtypes, their geographical distribution, and their association with different clinical outcomes. In addition, the review explores the clinical and pathophysiological features associated with FIV, such as oral and respiratory infections, neurological disease, renal disease, and cancer. The review also discusses the management of FIV-infected cats, including advances in the development of antiretroviral drugs and immunomodulators. The paper highlights the challenges associated with developing an FIV vaccine and provides a comprehensive summary of the latest advancements in FIV vaccine research. Additionally, an overview of adjuvants used so far in FIV vaccine candidates and future prospective regarding the application of adjuvants used in licensed vaccines for FIV vaccine has also been provided. Overall, this review paper provides a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of the current knowledge of FIV and highlights the areas that require further research to improve the treatment and prevention of this important viral infection in cats.

Keywords: Feline immunodeficiency virus, Vaccine, Prevalence, antiviral, Retrovirus, Symptoms

Received: 14 Jul 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Akhtar, Mishra, Tripathi, Redon-Marin, Narsing Rao, Felipe, León Magdaleno, Shaikh, Ruiz-Saenz, Cavallo and Chawla. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Nahid Akhtar, STEMskills Research and Education Lab Private Limited, Faridabad, India
Julian Ruiz-Saenz, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
Mohit Chawla, KAUST Catalysis Center (KCC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

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