Parvovirus monitoring in dogs and cats at an Italian vet hospital

Abstract

Parvovirus is a highly stable virus that can cause severe health consequences in dogs and cats. However, it is rarely included in surveillance programs for healthcare-associated infections, despite being capable of persisting and spreading easily within hospital environments. For these reasons, parvovirus was selected as the target pathogen to implement a self-designed active surveillance protocol in the infection isolation area of a veterinary teaching hospital in Italy between 2021 and 2022. The aims of this study were to evaluate viral shedding in hospitalized dogs and cats and assess the effectiveness of disinfection procedures. Five dogs and two cats were included. For each hospitalization, animal (rectal and haircoat) and environmental (before and after disinfection) swab samples were collected and tested by real-time PCR for parvoviral DNA detection and genetic characterization. Viral isolation was performed on haircoat samples to assess viral viability. High quantities of parvoviral DNA were detected in all rectal swab samples, even at time of discharge. Viable virus was identified in haircoat samples from five out of seven animals, confirming the role of contaminated haircoat in viral shedding and highlighting the risk of transmission even after the resolution of clinical signs. Disinfection protocols adopted were largely effective, with few exceptions, mainly concerning instruments handled by staff, suggesting the need for improved attention to indirectly contaminated items. The surveillance protocol developed in this study demonstrates that parvovirus infections continue to pose a concrete risk of nosocomial transmission in veterinary healthcare settings.