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. 2020 Dec 4;11(1):6231.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20097-0.

Evidence of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in cats and dogs from households in Italy

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Evidence of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in cats and dogs from households in Italy

E I Patterson et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 emerged from 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 919 companion animals living in northern Italy, sampled at a time of frequent human infection. No animals tested PCR positive. However, 3.3% of dogs and 5.8% 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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Distribution of dog and cat samples assayed for neutralizing antibody titer across Italy and the region of Lombardy.
Data on human COVID-19 cases from the Italian Department of Civil Protection as of 31 May 2020 and population data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), January 2019. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Correlation of percentage of seropositive animals per province and human COVID-19 infection density in Lombardy.
Data points were taken from provinces with at least ten samples. Spearman’s correlation was used to assess association. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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