Abstract
COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Infections of animals with SARS-CoV-2 have recently been reported, and an increase of severe lung pathologies in domestic dogs has also been detected by veterinarians in Spain. Therefore, further descriptions of the pathological processes in those animals that show symptoms similar to those described in humans affected by COVID-19 would be highly valuable. The potential for companion animals to contribute to the continued transmission and community spread of this known human-to-human disease is an urgent issue to be considered. Forty animals with pulmonary pathologies were studied by chest X-ray, ultrasound analysis, and computed tomography. Nasopharyngeal and rectal swabs were analyzed to detect canine pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. An additional twenty healthy dogs living in SARS-CoV-2-positive households were included. Immunoglobulin detection by several immunoassays was performed. Our findings show that sick dogs presented severe alveolar or interstitial patterns with pulmonary opacity, parenchymal abnormalities, and bilateral lesions. The forty sick dogs were negative for SARS-CoV-2 but Mycoplasma spp. was detected in 26 of 33 dogs. Five healthy and one pathological dog presented IgG against SARS-CoV-2. Here we report that despite detecting dogs with α-SARS-CoV-2 IgG, we never obtained a positive RT-qPCR for SARS-SoV-2, not even in dogs with severe pulmonary disease; suggesting that even in the case of canine infection, transmission would be unlikely. Moreover, dogs living in COVID-19-positive households could have been more highly exposed to infection with SARS-CoV-2.
Highlights
The year 2020 has seen an international health emergency generated by the emerging zoonotic coronavirus Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2, which began its expansion in the end of the 2019 in Wuhan (China) and caused a pandemic within a few months [1, 2]
We show that during the spring months of the year 2020, coinciding with the pandemic, an increase of severe lung pathologies in dogs was detected by veterinarians in Spain
Surveillance data from IDEXX laboratories, show no positive results for SARS-CoV-2 in any of more than 1500 dog specimens submitted for respiratory PCR panels, suggesting that transmission from human to pet is very rare
Summary
The year 2020 has seen an international health emergency generated by the emerging zoonotic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which began its expansion in the end of the 2019 in Wuhan (China) and caused a pandemic within a few months [1, 2]. Α-CoV and β-CoV infect mammals, and in addition to humans, have been described in dogs and cats. Canine enteric coronavirus (CCoV), an α-CoV, causes an enteritis of variable severity that is rarely fatal but leads to the development of immunity. Canine respiratory coronavirus (CRCoV), which belongs to the β-CoV (like SARS-CoV-2), causes respiratory symptoms in dogs, with generally mild clinical signs [5] and occasionally as a coinfection with other respiratory pathogens. The first cases of asymptomatic dogs infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been described [6]
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