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A pre- and during Pandemic Survey of Sars-Cov-2 Infection in Stray Colony and Shelter Cats from a High Endemic Area of Northern Italy.
- Source :
-
Viruses [Viruses] 2021 Apr 03; Vol. 13 (4). Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Apr 03. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Cats are susceptible to infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Whilst a number of studies have been performed worldwide on owned cats, limited data are available on stray, colony or shelter cats. We investigated SARS-CoV-2 infection in a stray cat population before and during human outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 in cities in the Lombardy region in northern Italy, a high endemic region for SARS-CoV-2, using serological and molecular methods. A cohort of different samples were collected from 241 cats, including frozen archived serum samples from 136 cats collected before the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and serum, pharyngeal and rectal swab samples from 105 cats collected during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. All pre-pandemic samples tested seronegative for antibodies against the nucleocapsid of SARS-CoV-2 using indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test, while one serum sample collected during the pandemic was seropositive. No serological cross-reactivity was detected between SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and antibodies against feline enteric (FECV) and infectious peritonitis coronavirus (FIPC), Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), Feline Calicivirus (FCV), Feline Herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1), Feline Parvovirus (FPV), Leishmania infantum , Anaplasma phagocytophilum , Rickettsia spp., Toxoplasma gondii or Chlamydophila felis . No pharyngeal or rectal swab tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA on real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR). Our data show that SARS-CoV-2 did infect stray cats in Lombardy during the COVID-19 pandemic, but with lower prevalence than found in owned cats. This should alleviate public concerns about stray cats acting as SARS-CoV-2 carriers.
- Subjects :
- Anaplasma phagocytophilum
Animals
Antibodies, Viral blood
COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing
Caliciviridae Infections epidemiology
Calicivirus, Feline immunology
Cats
Chlamydia
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay methods
Feline Panleukopenia epidemiology
Feline Panleukopenia Virus immunology
Humans
Italy epidemiology
Leishmania infantum
Male
Prevalence
Rickettsia
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19 epidemiology
Cat Diseases epidemiology
Pandemics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1999-4915
- Volume :
- 13
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Viruses
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 33916759
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/v13040618