Abstract
COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused by a new coronavirus (CoV), SARS-CoV-2, which is closely related to SARS-CoV that jumped the animal–human species barrier and caused a disease outbreak in 2003. SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus that was first described in 2019, unrelated to the commonly occurring feline coronavirus (FCoV) that is an alphacoronavirus associated with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious and has spread globally within a few months, resulting in the current pandemic. Felids have been shown to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Particularly in the Western world, many people live in very close contact with their pet cats, and natural infections of cats in COVID-19-positive households have been described in several countries. In this review, the European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD), a scientifically independent board of experts in feline medicine from 11 European Countries, discusses the current status of SARS-CoV infections in cats. The review examines the host range of SARS-CoV-2 and human-to-animal transmissions, including infections in domestic and non-domestic felids, as well as mink-to-human/-cat transmission. It summarises current data on SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in domestic cats and the results of experimental infections of cats and provides expert opinions on the clinical relevance and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cats.
Highlights
The coronavirus (CoV) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first isolated in December 2019, in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China
It was reported that COVID-19 symptoms were present in humans working on the Dutch farms before clinical signs were observed in mink, and infection was confirmed in one hospitalised person [59]
No virus was detected in rectal swabs, and none of the cats displayed clinical signs, all cats developed antibodies confirming infection. These experimental studies showed that cats are susceptible to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 infection [81]; the findings suggested that cats are unlikely to develop clinical disease under these experimental conditions
Summary
The coronavirus (CoV) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first isolated in December 2019, in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China. The new virus is closely related to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that caused a disease outbreak in 2003 and has been named SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is a new strain that has not previously been identified in humans or animals. SARS-CoV-2 did not emerge from any companion animal CoV; neither is it related to the commonly occurring feline coronavirus (FCoV) associated with feline infectious peritonitis. SARS-CoV-2 infection has spread to many countries worldwide, leading to the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11 March 2020 [1].
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