Research overview: FIV-related lentiviruses in wild felids

Lentiviruses related to domestic-cat FIV circulate widely in wild felid species including lions, pumas, leopards, and others, often at high seroprevalence yet apparently with limited disease in their natural hosts. This pattern suggests long coevolution and relative host adaptation, contrasting with the immunodeficiency seen in domestic cats. Phylogenetic studies use these species-specific lentiviruses to trace evolutionary history and cross-species transmission events. This overview compiles findings across the wild-felid lentivirus literature rather than one citation, describing why apparently nonpathogenic infection in lions and pumas interests evolutionary virologists, what these strains reveal about lentivirus-host adaptation over time, and how surveillance of wild populations informs both conservation health assessment and comparative understanding of FIV pathogenesis in domestic cats.