2015 Baker Institute Spotlight: Faculty Member John S.L. Parker works to understand a common feline virus

Abstract

This spotlight item is about: Dr. John Parker, BVMS, Ph.D., is working on a puzzle. Feline calicivirus has a range of different effects in cats: temporary and mild flu-like symptoms in most, more chronic mouth and throat symptoms in others, and, in rare cases, severe life-threatening disease throughout the body. Parker, a faculty member at the Baker Institute, is trying to determine why the virus has such variable effects, work that promises not only to help cats but might also eventually lead to treatments or vaccines for a familiar human disease: stomach flu.