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.
摘要:
猫容易感染严重急性呼吸道综合症冠状病毒2(SARS-CoV-2)。虽然世界范围内已经对养猫进行了许多研究,杂散上可用的数据有限,殖民地或庇护猫。我们调查了意大利北部伦巴第地区城市中人类爆发SARS-CoV-2之前和期间,流浪猫种群中的SARS-CoV-2感染,使用血清学和分子方法,SARS-CoV-2的高流行区。从241只猫中收集了一组不同的样本,包括在2019年冠状病毒病(COVID-19)大流行之前收集的136只猫的冷冻存档血清样本和血清,在SARS-CoV-2爆发期间收集的105只猫的咽和直肠拭子样本。使用间接酶联免疫吸附测定(ELISA)测试,所有大流行前样本均对针对SARS-CoV-2核衣壳的抗体进行了血清阴性测试,而在大流行期间收集的一份血清样本呈血清阳性。在SARS-CoV-2抗体和针对猫的肠道抗体(FECV)和传染性腹膜炎冠状病毒(FIPC)之间未检测到血清学交叉反应性,猫免疫缺陷病毒(FIV),猫杯状病毒(FCV),猫疱疹病毒-1(FHV-1),猫细小病毒(FPV),利什曼原虫,吞噬体,立克次体属。,弓形虫或费衣原体。在实时逆转录聚合酶链反应(rRT-PCR)中,没有咽部或直肠拭子检测出SARS-CoV-2RNA呈阳性。我们的数据显示,在COVID-19大流行期间,SARS-CoV-2确实感染了伦巴第的流浪猫,但患病率低于自有猫。这应该减轻公众对流浪猫作为SARS-CoV-2携带者的担忧。