FINDINGS: Of the total number of cats sampled, 95% (40/42) were RT-PCR positive for FCoV. Inoculation of clinical samples into Crandell feline kidney cells (CrFK), and Feline catus whole fetus-4 cells (Fcwf-4), show cytopathic effect (CPE) characterized by syncytial cells formation and later cell detachment. Differentiation of FCoV biotypes using RT-PCR assay revealed that, 97.5% and 2.5% of local isolates were type I and type II FCoV, respectively. These isolates had high sequence homology and phylogenetic similarity with several FCoV isolates from Europe, South East Asia and USA.
CONCLUSIONS: This study reported the successful isolation of local type I and type II FCoV evident with formation of cytopathic effects in two types of cell cultures namely the CrFK and Fcwf-4 , where the later cells being more permissive. However, the RT-PCR assay is more sensitive in detecting the antigen in suspected samples as compared to virus isolation in cell culture. The present study indicated that type I FCoV is more prevalent among cats in Malaysia.
METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a convenience sample technique. The translation procedure included five stages: forward translation, revision of translation, backward translation, refinement of translation, and a final test of the pre-final version. The final sets of questionnaires were constructed using an online JotForm platform. The online platform was chosen to automatically calculate the questionnaire's final overall score. Overall, 260 participants were instructed to fill out the English and the Arab-OSDI version twice to conduct the reliability of the translated version and repeatability evaluation.
RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 33.45 ± 11.74 years old. Cronbach's alpha for all items was greater than 0.80, except for the "blurred vision" and "deteriorating vision" items (0.77 and 0.74, respectively). The mean overall score difference between the English-OSDI and Arab-OSDI was 0.86 based on the Bland-Altman chart. For repeatability, no significant difference in the overall scores between the two repeats of the Arab-OSDI (p = 0.632). The Arab-OSDI overall score (sessions 1 and 2) has a clinical difference (bias) of 0.21. Using the varimax rotation method, only three factors (ocular symptoms, vision-related function, and environmental triggers) had eigenvalues greater than one in the structure of the Arab-OSDI.
CONCLUSION: The Arab-OSDI is an appropriate, reliable, and repeatable tool for the determination of dry eye symptoms, ocular discomfort, and quality of life in the Gazan population. This version could remove the language barrier in answering OSDI items more easily.