Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a cat owned by a COVID-19–affected patient in Spain

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of COVID-19, is considered a zoonotic pathogen mainly transmitted human to human. Few reports indicate that pets may be exposed to the virus. The present report describes a cat suffering from severe respiratory distr...

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Published in	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 117; no. 40; pp. 24790 - 24793
Main Authors	Segalés, Joaquim, Puig, Mariona, Rodon, Jordi, Avila-Nieto, Carlos, Carrillo, Jorge, Cantero, Guillermo, Terrón, Maria Teresa, Cruz, Sílvia, Parera, Mariona, Noguera-Julián, Marc, Izquierdo-Useros, Nuria, Guallar, Víctor, Vidal, Enric, Valencia, Alfonso, Blanco, Ignacio, Blanco, Julià, Clotet, Bonaventura, Vergara-Alert, Júlia
Format	Journal Article
Language	English
Published	United States National Academy of Sciences 06.10.2020
Subjects	Animals Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification Biological Sciences Cardiomyopathy Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - pathology Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - veterinary Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - virology Cats Coronavirus Infections - complications Coronavirus Infections - pathology Coronavirus Infections - veterinary Coronaviruses COVID-19 Disease transmission Edema Etiology Euthanasia Fatal Outcome Humans Incidental Findings Infections Lymph nodes Necropsy Pandemics - veterinary Pets Pneumonia, Viral - complications Pneumonia, Viral - pathology Pneumonia, Viral - veterinary Respiratory diseases Ribonucleic acid RNA SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Thrombocytopenia Thromboembolism Thrombosis Viral diseases Viruses Zoonoses COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 transmission cat
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ISSN	0027-8424 1091-6490 1091-6490
DOI	10.1073/pnas.2010817117

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Summary:	Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of COVID-19, is considered a zoonotic pathogen mainly transmitted human to human. Few reports indicate that pets may be exposed to the virus. The present report describes a cat suffering from severe respiratory distress and thrombocytopenia living with a family with several members affected by COVID-19. Clinical signs of the cat prompted humanitarian euthanasia and a detailed postmortem investigation to assess whether a COVID-19–like disease was causing the condition. Necropsy results showed the animal suffered from feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and severe pulmonary edema and thrombosis. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was only detected in nasal swab, nasal turbinates, and mesenteric lymph node, but no evidence of histopathological lesions compatible with a viral infection were detected. The cat seroconverted against SARS-CoV-2, further evidencing a productive infection in this animal. We conclude that the animal had a subclinical SARS-CoV-2 infection concomitant to an unrelated cardiomyopathy that led to euthanasia.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 ObjectType-Case Study-2 ObjectType-Feature-4 content type line 23 ObjectType-Report-1 ObjectType-Article-3 Edited by Tak W. Mak, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, and approved August 22, 2020 (received for review May 27, 2020) Author contributions: J.S. and J.V.-A. designed research; J.S., M. Puig, J.R., C.A.-N., J.C., G.C., M.T.T., S.C., M.N.-J., N.I.-U., E.V., and J.V.-A. performed research; C.A.-N., J.C., M. Parera, N.I.-U., V.G., A.V., and I.B. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; J.S., J.C., M. Parera, E.V., J.B., B.C., and J.V.-A. analyzed data; and J.S. wrote the paper.
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.2010817117