Research overview: surveying lentivirus prevalence in wild felid populations

Serological and molecular surveys of wild felid populations have documented widespread infection with species-specific lentiviruses related to FIV, often at high prevalence in lions and pumas, generally without the immunodeficiency seen in domestic cats. These surveys inform both conservation health assessment and the evolutionary study of lentiviruses across felid lineages. This overview compiles the surveillance literature rather than one source, describing how prevalence is measured in free-ranging cats, why apparently nonpathogenic infection in wild hosts contrasts with domestic-cat disease, and how cross-species patterns illuminate lentivirus coevolution. It matters because understanding the natural distribution and effects of these viruses helps conservationists assess population health and gives evolutionary biologists a window into how lentiviruses have adapted to different felid hosts over long timescales.