High prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in pets from COVID-19+ households

Matthieu Fritz; Béatrice Rosolen; Emilie Krafft; Pierre Becquart; Eric Elguero; Oxana Vratskikh; Solène Denolly; Bertrand Boson; Jessica Vanhomwegen; Meriadeg Ar Gouilh; Angeli Kodjo; Catherine Chirouze; Serge G Rosolen; Vincent Legros; Eric M Leroy

doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.100192

High prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in pets from COVID-19+ households

One Health. 2021 Jun:11:100192. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.100192. Epub 2020 Nov 4.

Authors

Matthieu Fritz¹, Béatrice Rosolen², Emilie Krafft³, Pierre Becquart¹, Eric Elguero¹, Oxana Vratskikh⁴, Solène Denolly⁵, Bertrand Boson⁵, Jessica Vanhomwegen^{4

6}, Meriadeg Ar Gouilh^{7

8}, Angeli Kodjo³, Catherine Chirouze^{2

9}, Serge G Rosolen^{10

11}, Vincent Legros^{3

5}, Eric M Leroy¹

Affiliations

¹ Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC) (IRD 224 - CNRS 5290 - Université de Montpellier), Montpellier, France.
² Service de Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales, CHRU hôpital Jean-Minjoz, Besançon, France.
³ Université de Lyon, VetAgro Sup, Campus Vétérinaire de Lyon, Marcy-l'Etoile, France.
⁴ Environment and Infectious Risk Unit, Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
⁵ CIRI - Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie, Team EVIR, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM, U111, CNRS, UMR5308, ENS Lyon, Lyon, France.
⁶ The OIE Collaborating Centre for Detection and Identification in Humans of Emerging Animal Pathogens, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
⁷ Groupe de Recherche sur l'Adaptation Microbienne (GRAM 2.0), Normandie Université, 14000 Caen, France.
⁸ Laboratoire de Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire, Caen, France.
⁹ UMR Chrono-Environnement - Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Besançon, France.
¹⁰ Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France.
¹¹ Clinique Vétérinaire Voltaire, Asnières, France.

Abstract

In a survey of household cats and dogs of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients, we found a high seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, ranging from 21% to 53%, depending on the positivity criteria chosen. Seropositivity was significantly greater among pets from COVID-19+ households compared to those with owners of unknown status. Our results highlight the potential role of pets in the spread of the epidemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Luminex; Neutralization assay; One health; Pets; SARS-CoV-2; Seroprevalence.