Household Cases Suggest That Cats Belonging to Owners with COVID-19 Have a Limited Role in Virus Transmission

Household Cases Suggest That Cats Belonging to Owners with COVID-19 Have a Limited Role in Virus Transmission

Pierre Bessière, Maxime Fusade-Boyer, Mathilda Walch, Laetitia Lèbre, Jessie Brun, Guillaume Croville, Séverine Boullier, Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Jean-Luc Guérin

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for COVID-19 and spread rapidly following its emergence in Wuhan in 2019. Although cats are, among other domestic animals, susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, little is known about their epidemiological role in the dynamics of a household infection. In this study, we monitored five cats for viral shedding daily. Each cat was confined with its COVID-19 positive owners in separate households. Low loads of viral nucleic acid were found in two cats, but only one developed anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, which suggests that cats have a limited role in COVID-19 epidemiology.

2021

covid-19, cats, reverse zoonosis

10.3390/v13040673

Epidemiology and Health

Korean Society of Epidemiology

Microbiology