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Serological evidence of SARS‐CoV‐2 and co‐infections in stray cats in Spain
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Epidemiological studies
Serological evidence of SARS‐CoV‐2 and co‐infections in stray cats in Spain
Added 16 June 2021
Villanueva‐Saz, S. et al (2021) Serological evidence of SARS‐CoV‐2 and co‐infections in stray cats in Spain. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.14062
This paper reports on a serological study of 114 stray cats sampled as part of a trap neuter release sterilisation program carried out in Zaragoza (Spain) from January to October 2020. The cats were tested for SARS-CoV-2, Toxoplasma gondii, Leishmania infantum, feline leukaemia virus (FeLV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline coronavirus (FCoV).
The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 3.51%. with 4 out of 114 cats testing seropositive by ELISA. Of these three cats were found to have co-infection: one male co-infected with T. gondii and FIV, one male co-infected only with FIV and L. infantum, and a female co-infected only with T. gondii.
The presence of other co-infections was also detected including T. gondii and FIV (n = 3), T. gondii and L. infantum (n = 3), FeLV and FIV and L. infantum (n = 1), FeLV and FIV (n = 1), FeLV and L. infantum (n = 1), and FIV and L. infantum (n = 5).
The authors noted that while the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in stray cats in this sample was low the existence of concomitant infections with other pathogens including T. gondii, L. infantum and FIV, may suggest that immunosuppressed animals might be especially susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.