A feline virus mutation in Cyprus caused far fewer cat deaths than claimed, veterinary leader says

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The head of the Cyprus veterinarians association says that claims that a local mutation of a feline virus has killed as many as 300,000 cats on the island are a big exaggeration. The director of the Pancyprian Veterinary Association, Nektaria Ioannou Arsenoglou, said the group’s survey of 35 veterinary clinics indicate an island-wide total of only about 8,000 deaths. Arsenoglou says the local mutation of a feline coronavirus that causes Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is nearly always lethal if left untreated, but that medication can nurse cats back to health in approximately 85% of cases. Spread through contact with cat feces, neither the virus or its mutation can be passed on to humans.