1. Low SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence and No Active Infections among Dogs and Cats in Animal Shelters with Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 Human Cases among Employees.
- Author
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Cossaboom, Caitlin M., Medley, Alexandra M., Spengler, Jessica R., Kukielka, Esther A., Goryoka, Grace W., Baird, Tiffany, Bhavsar, Swity, Campbell, Stefanie, Campbell, Thomas S., Christensen, Daniel, Condrey, Jillian A., Dawson, Patrick, Doty, Jeffrey B., Feldpausch, Amanda, Gabel, Julie, Jones, Dee, Lim, Ailam, Loiacono, Christina M., Jenkins-Moore, Melinda, and Moore, Andrea
- Subjects
COVID-19 pandemic ,SARS-CoV-2 ,ZOOLOGICAL specimens ,COVID-19 ,SEROPREVALENCE ,ANIMAL shelters ,FELIDAE ,DOGS - Abstract
Simple Summary: We investigated dogs and cats living in four animal shelters in the United States that had been exposed to people with COVID-19 in the shelters. Our objective was to understand if the animals were infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. We found that out of the 96 dogs and cats that we sampled, none had active SARS-CoV-2 infections and only one dog had detectable antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, meaning that it had been exposed to the virus but was not actively infected. This suggests that the risk of humans spreading SARS-CoV-2 to dogs and cats in animal shelter settings is probably low. Human-to-animal and animal-to-animal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been documented; however, investigations into SARS-CoV-2 transmission in congregate animal settings are lacking. We investigated four animal shelters in the United States that had identified animals with exposure to shelter employees with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Of the 96 cats and dogs with specimens collected, only one dog had detectable SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies; no animal specimens had detectable viral RNA. These data indicate a low probability of human-to-animal transmission events in cats and dogs in shelter settings with early implementation of infection prevention interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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