Serological survey of SARS-CoV-2 in companion animals in China.

Abstract

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be transmitted from human to companion animals. The national wide serological surveillance against SARS-CoV-2 was conducted among pet animals, mainly in cats and dogs, 1 year after the first outbreak of COVID-19 in China. All sera were tested for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies using an indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike protein. This late survey takes advantage of the short duration of the serological response in these animals to track recent episode of transmission. A total of 20,592 blood samples were obtained from 25 provinces across 7 geographical regions. The overall seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in cats was 0.015% (2/13397; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.0, 0.1). The virus infections in cats were only detected in Central (Hubei, 0.375%) and Eastern China (Zhejiang, 0.087%) with a seroprevalence estimated at 0.090 and 0.020%, respectively. In dogs, the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections was 0.014% (1/7159; 95% CI: 0.0, 0.1) in the entire nation, seropositive samples were limited to Beijing (0.070%) of Northern China with a prevalence of 0.054%. No seropositive cases were discovered in other geographic regions, nor in other companion animals analyzed in this study. These data reveal the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in companion animals, although transmission of the virus to domestic cats and dogs is low in China, continuous monitoring is helpful for the better understand of the virus transmission status and the effect on animals.