RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Evidence of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in cats and dogs from households in Italy
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.07.21.214346
DO 10.1101/2020.07.21.214346
A1 E.I. Patterson
A1 G. Elia
A1 A. Grassi
A1 A. Giordano
A1 C. Desario
A1 M. Medardo
A1 S.L. Smith
A1 E.R. Anderson
A1 T. Prince
A1 G.T. Patterson
A1 E. Lorusso
A1 M.S. Lucente
A1 G. Lanave
A1 S. Lauzi
A1 U. Bonfanti
A1 A. Stranieri
A1 V. Martella
A1 F. Solari Basano
A1 V.R. Barrs
A1 A.D. Radford
A1 U. Agrimi
A1 G. L. Hughes
A1 S. Paltrinieri
A1 N. Decaro
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/21/2020.07.21.214346.abstract
AB SARS-CoV-2 originated in animals and is now easily transmitted between people. Sporadic detection of natural cases in animals alongside successful experimental infections of pets, such as cats, ferrets and dogs, raises questions about the susceptibility of animals under natural conditions of pet ownership. Here we report a large-scale study to assess SARS-CoV-2 infection in over 500 companion animals living in northern Italy, sampled at a time of frequent human infection. No animals tested PCR positive. However, 3.4% of dogs and 3.9% of cats had measurable SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titers, with dogs from COVID-19 positive households being significantly more likely to test positive than those from COVID-19 negative households. Understanding risk factors associated with this and their potential to infect other species requires urgent investigation.One Sentence Summary SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in pets from Italy.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.