2016 Baker Institute News: Model helps identify drugs to treat eye infections in cats

Abstract

This news item from the Cornell Chronicle is about: t’s a problem veterinarians see all the time, but there are few treatments. Feline herpes virus 1 (FHV-1) is a frequent cause of eye infections in cats, but the drugs available to treat these infections must be applied multiple times a day and there is scant scientific evidence to support their use. Now scientists at the Baker Institute have developed a model system that can be used to test drugs for treating these eye infections, and early results have pointed to a new drug for treating FHV-1 that will soon head to clinical trials. The work is reported in the Journal of General Virology. “Herpes-induced cornea infections are a big problem in cats,” says Dr. Gerlinde Van de Walle, who led the study. Cats infected with FHV-1 will blink continuously, squint and have a teary, sore-looking eye or eyes. “If not treated, FHV-1 infection can eventually lead to blindness,” she says.