Disease Stages
FIV progresses through similar stages to HIV in humans. The initial stage, or acute phase, is accompanied by mild symptoms such as fever, lethargy, anorexia, pyrexia, and lymphadenopathy. This initial stage is fairly short and is followed by the asymptomatic stage. Here the cat demonstrates no noticeable symptoms for a variable length of time. Some cats stay in this latent stage for only a few months, but for some it can last for years. Factors that influence the length of the asymptomatic stage include the pathogenicity of the infecting virus and FIV subtype (A-E), the age of the cat, and exposure to other pathogens. Finally the cat progresses into the final stage known as the feline acquired immune deficiency syndrome (FAIDS) stage where the cat is extremely susceptible to secondary diseases which inevitably are the cause of death.
Read more about this topic: Feline Immunodeficiency Virus
Famous quotes containing the words disease and/or stages:
“Your responsibility as a parent is not as great as you might imagine. You need not supply the world with the next conqueror of disease or a major movie star. If your child simply grows up to be someone who does not use the word “collectible” as a noun, you can consider yourself an unqualified success.”
—Fran Lebowitz (20th century)
“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery....Child’s play is the infantile form of the human ability to deal with experience by creating model situations and to master reality by experiment and planning.”
—Erik H. Erikson (20th century)