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以下附摘自美國CatFanciers’Association貓科研中心之資料及網址供各貓友參考（www.winnefelinehealth.org/health/FIP.html）：
Feline coronavirus operates differently from any other feline virus in several important ways:
a) systemic antibodies have no protective function for the cat and may play a role in the disease FIP itself. b) antibody titres are meaningless for diagnosis of FIP or prognosis. c) a vaccine is available, but there is no consensus on its efficacy or safety.
First, some notes on terminology.
FECV is a very common, highly infectious feline virus. It belongs to the genus Coronavirus, which has members that infect other species（man, swine, cattle, birds, dogs）. The majority of cats with FECV（about 95% or more）remain healthy. But in a small number of cases, FECV infection is the first step in a chain of events leading to FIP. This happens because coronaviruses are made of large numbers of nucleotides, the basic unit of genetic material, and they are very prone to mutations. As a virus reproduces itself, errors are made in copying these nucleotides. The more nucleotides, the more errors are possible. While most of these errors are harmless, some will have the effect of giving FECV the ability to cause disease. These mutant FECV strains are called FIPV.
Recent research has shown that mutant FECVs arise within an individual cat. Thus, we now know that the vast majority of cats do not “catch” FIP, but they develop it themselves from their own mutant FECV. Transmission of FIP from cat to cat is considered to be rare. This fact has caused leading FIP researchers to state that cats who are ill with FIP are unlikely to be a risk to other cats and thus do not need to be isolated.
最後請各位將此電郵廣泛發放，以息市民對非典型肺炎SARS是否與接觸貓隻有關之任何誤會， 免惹起貓劫。 謝謝！祝願大家平安！
HKCSA愛貓救世軍 we work for the cats GPO Box 2930, Hong Kong http://hkcsa.org.hk hkcsa@hkcsa.org.hk adoption hotline：9431 9461（10am-7pm） Fax：2482 2219
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