Research overview: viral disease dynamics in urban-edge wild felids

Wild felids living near cities are exposed to pathogens including feline immunodeficiency virus, feline leukemia virus and others, sometimes shared with domestic cats, raising conservation and One Health concerns. This overview synthesises disease-ecology research on pathogen prevalence, transmission pathways and population effects in urban-edge pumas, bobcats and other cats, and the role of domestic-cat contact and density in spillover. It examines how habitat fragmentation can alter disease dynamics by concentrating animals, and how toxicant-driven immune stress may heighten susceptibility. The synthesis frames infectious disease as an important, sometimes hidden dimension of felid health in human-dominated landscapes.