Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
No COVID-19 infection found in cats and dogs near infected owners
By Sarah Temmama et al.·Published in One Health·2020·View original on Semantic Scholar →
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Original publication title: Absence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cats and dogs in close contact with a cluster of COVID-19 patients in a veterinary campus
Plain-English summary
A group of 21 pets, including 9 cats and 12 dogs, living with veterinary students who had COVID-19, were tested for the virus. Despite some pets showing symptoms like fever and cough, none had detectable antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 one month after exposure. This suggests that while pets can show signs of illness, they did not contract the virus from their owners in this case. The findings help clarify the role pets might play in the spread of COVID-19.
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Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which originated in Wuhan, China, in 2019, is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now accepted that the wild fauna, probably bats, constitute the initial reservoir of the virus, but little is known about the role pets can play in the spread of the disease in human communities, knowing the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect some domestic animals. In this cross-sectional study, we tested the antibody response in a cluster of 21 domestic pets (9 cats and 12 dogs) living in close contact with their owners (belonging to a veterinary community of 20 students) in which two students tested positive for COVID-19 and several others (n = 11/18) consecutively showed clinical signs (fever, cough, anosmia, etc.) compatible with COVID-19 infection. Although a few pets presented many clinical signs indicative for a coronavirus infection, no antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detectable in their blood one month after the index case was reported, using an immunoprecipitation assay. These original data can serve a better evaluation of the host range of SARS-CoV-2 in natural environment exposure conditions.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/485108f7b1c915d48fb9fb5bcd5b1b164d94db60