PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hamer, Sarah A.
AU  - Pauvolid-Corrêa, Alex
AU  - Zecca, Italo B.
AU  - Davila, Edward
AU  - Auckland, Lisa D.
AU  - Roundy, Christopher M.
AU  - Tang, Wendy
AU  - Torchetti, Mia
AU  - Killian, Mary Lea
AU  - Jenkins-Moore, Melinda
AU  - Mozingo, Katie
AU  - Akpalu, Yao
AU  - Ghai, Ria R.
AU  - Spengler, Jessica R.
AU  - Behravesh, Casey Barton
AU  - Fischer, Rebecca S. B.
AU  - Hamer, Gabriel L.
TI  - Natural SARS-CoV-2 infections, including virus isolation, among serially tested cats and dogs in households with confirmed human COVID-19 cases in Texas, USA
AID  - 10.1101/2020.12.08.416339
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.12.08.416339
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/08/2020.12.08.416339.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/08/2020.12.08.416339.full
AB  - The natural infections and epidemiological roles of household pets in SARS-CoV-2 transmission are not understood. We conducted a longitudinal study of dogs and cats living with at least one SARS-CoV-2 infected human in Texas and found 47.1% of 17 cats and 15.3% of 59 dogs from 25.6% of 39 households were positive for SARS-CoV-2 via RT-PCR and genome sequencing or neutralizing antibodies. Virus was isolated from one cat. The majority (82.4%) of infected pets were asymptomatic. Re-sampling of one infected cat showed persistence of viral RNA at least 32 d-post human diagnosis (25 d-post initial test). Across 15 antibody-positive animals, titers increased (33.3%), decreased (33.3%) or were stable (33.3%) over time. A One Health approach is informative for prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.