SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in dogs and cats in a highly infected area of Brazil during the pandemic

Samar Afif Jarrah; Louise Bach Kmetiuk; Fabrizia Valleriani; Barbara Bonfini; Alessio Lorusso; Violetta Vasinioti; Nicola Decaro; Marco Tulio Dos Santos; Kledir Anderson Hofstaetter Spohr; Annamaria Pratelli; Anna Serroni; Sara Capista; Valéria Regia Franco Sousa; Alexander Welker Biondo; Luciano Nakazato; Valéria Dutra

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1111728

SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in dogs and cats in a highly infected area of Brazil during the pandemic

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Feb 23:10:1111728. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1111728. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Samar Afif Jarrah¹, Louise Bach Kmetiuk², Fabrizia Valleriani³, Barbara Bonfini³, Alessio Lorusso³, Violetta Vasinioti⁴, Nicola Decaro⁴, Marco Tulio Dos Santos¹, Kledir Anderson Hofstaetter Spohr¹, Annamaria Pratelli⁴, Anna Serroni³, Sara Capista³, Valéria Regia Franco Sousa¹, Alexander Welker Biondo², Luciano Nakazato¹, Valéria Dutra¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil.
² Department of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
³ Department of Virology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale", Teramo, TE, Italy.
⁴ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, BA, Italy.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 was a worldwide threat during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state of Mato Grosso had the second highest mortality rate in Brazil, with 427. 4 deaths/100,000 inhabitants. However, no large-scale study among dogs and cats in such highly infected areas of Brazil has so far been conducted. Accordingly, the present study reports on a serosurvey among dogs and cats in Cuiabá, capital of Mato Grosso from November 2020 to July 2021, where the human mortality rate was 605/100,000 at that time. Overall, 33/762 dogs (4.3%) and 4/182 cats (2.2%) were found to be seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 through ELISA, and 3/762 dogs (0.4%) and 3/182 cats (1.6%) were seropositive through the serum neutralization test. Cats presented higher seroprevalence with higher titers of neutralizing antibodies. Although N-protein based ELISA may be a good screening test, cross-reactivity with other canine coronaviruses may impair its diagnostic use among dogs.

Keywords: Brazil; SARS-CoV-2; companion animals; coronavirus; pets; serosurvey.

Grants and funding

This research was partially funded by ERAnet ICRAD—project Musecov: Multi-scale Eco-evolution of Coronaviruses: from surveillance toward emergence prediction (ND); Ricerca Corrente IZSPB 01/20, project Valutazione della circolazione di SARS-CoV-2 e di altri coronavirus nel cane e nel gatto (CoronaPets) (ND); Ricerca Corrente 2020, project PanCO Epidemiologia e Patogenesi dei coronavirus umani ed animali (AL); Ricerca Strategica 2020 project, Suscettibilità dei mammiferi a SARS-CoV-2: rischi di zoonosi inversa e possibilità in medicina traslazionale (AL); European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (One Health European Joint Programme under grant agreement No. 773830, AL). AB and VD was funded through the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (2020-1/402341).