New SARS-CoV-2 Infection Detected in an Italian Pet Cat by RT-qPCR from Deep Pharyngeal Swab

Nicolò Musso; Angelita Costantino; Sebastiano La Spina; Alessandra Finocchiaro; Francesca Andronico; Stefano Stracquadanio; Luigi Liotta; Rosanna Visalli; Giovanni Emmanuele

doi:10.3390/pathogens9090746

New SARS-CoV-2 Infection Detected in an Italian Pet Cat by RT-qPCR from Deep Pharyngeal Swab

Pathogens. 2020 Sep 11;9(9):746. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9090746.

Authors

Nicolò Musso¹, Angelita Costantino², Sebastiano La Spina³, Alessandra Finocchiaro³, Francesca Andronico⁴, Stefano Stracquadanio¹, Luigi Liotta⁵, Rosanna Visalli⁴, Giovanni Emmanuele⁴

Affiliations

¹ Section of Microbiology, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy.
² Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy.
³ Centro Veterinario Giarre, 95014 Giarre, Italy.
⁴ Molecular Analysis and Biology Laboratory Biogene Catania, 95100 Catania, Italy.
⁵ Department of Veterinary Science, University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy.

Abstract

The pandemic respiratory disease COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in Wuhan in December 2019 and then spread throughout the world; Italy was the most affected European country. Despite close pet-human contact, little is known about the predisposition of pets to SARS-CoV-2. Among these, felines are the most susceptible. In this study, a domestic cat with clear clinical signs of pneumonia, confirmed by Rx imaging, was found to be infected by SARS-CoV-2 using quantitative RT-qPCR from a nasal swab. This is the first Italian study responding to the request of the scientific community to focus attention on the possible role of pets as a viral reservoir. An important question remains unanswered: did the cat actually die due to SARS-CoV-2 infection?

Keywords: RNA-extraction; SARS-CoV-2; pet cat; pneumonia.