Why is feline leukemia contagious but human leukemia isn’t?
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Feline leukemia refers to “Feline Leukemia **Virus**” (FeLV for short), and because it’s a virus, it is contagious. Although FeLV *can* cause cancer in cats, it is not a cancer in and of itself. The virus got its name because it was first discovered in cats with leukemia.
Human leukemia, on the other hand, refers to the actual blood cancer (and is therefore not contagious).
There are viruses that can lead to the development of different types of blood cancers. Epstein-Barr infection is notoriously associated with the development of different kinds of lymphomas, such as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but also lymphomas of T cells, natural killer cells, etc…
Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) infection can lead to the development of leukemia. Apparently here is some evidence linking hepatitis C virus to the development of a lymphoma of B cells.
Lymphomas are blood cancers that manifest as masses with a primary location in lymph nodes. Leukemias are blood cancers that aren’t solid and are primarily located in blood and bone marrow.
Had a kitten with regressive (?) FeLV meaning he tested negative when they did the test and we found out when he was a year old that he developed Mediastinal Lymphoma from it. (He passed at 14m)
But it’s a virus that affects the blood or something. I don’t understand how he had it but tested negative.
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