The role of infection control in the prevention of the transmission of feline viruses

Registered veterinary nurses have a duty to safeguard their patients from risk of injury or harm while they are under their care. In order to fulfil that duty, they must remember the risk associated with feline patients coming into contact with transmissible viruses while visiting the clinic and take action where possible to reduce this risk. Infection control is not a passive process, rather it requires forward planning and implementation of robust measures to protect the patient once they enter the clinic. This article outlines the journey of the feline patient as they travel through the clinic and highlights key points that can be addressed along the route to reduce the chances of all feline patients acquiring a virus.

It is fortunate that in the present day, most cats will travel to the clinic in a secure carrier that reduces the possibility of patients coming directly into contact with each other. Viruses that are spread via open wounds or injection of infected saliva through bites, such as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukaemia virus (FelV), are therefore not easily transmissible in practice and are readily killed in the environment by disinfectant (Möstl et al, 2013). Less fortunately, the client entering the clinic through the front door may have viral contaminant on clothing, shoes and hands, as well as the outside of the cat basket. Viruses such as feline calicivirus (FCV), that are more difficult to kill and can live in the environment for days, may therefore enter the practice via secretions ‘worn’ on clients (Kramer et al, 2006). Hand rubs placed directly inside the front door are useful to encourage instant hand disinfection on entry to the practice and reduce the spread of a variety of infections. Electronic hand rub reminders and sensor-activated doors decrease the risk of contaminated touch points as well as improve compliance, although there is an increased risk of patient escape where sensor-activated doors are used (Ellison et al, 2015). Hand disinfection compliance is thought to be higher with hand rub that is applied and left to dry, compared with that of hand wash that requires water (Addie et al, 2015). Alcohol hand rubs are rapidly effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria and viruses, though are not sporicidal (McDonnell and Russell, 1999). It is worth noting that higher alcohol concentrations in hand rub are proven to have increased efficacy for killing feline viruses, such as FCV (Kampf et al, 2005), with ethanol concentrations above 95% being thought to kill most feline clinically relevant viruses when used appropriately (Kampf, 2018).