Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Salud Publica, Dirección Investigación Desarrollo e Innovación, Guayaquil, Ecuador; Universidad Espiritu Santo, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Salud Publica, Dirección Investigación Desarrollo e Innovación, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Int J Infect Dis. 2022 Sep;122:295-299. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2022.05.049. Epub 2022 May 26.
Several cases of reverse transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from human to pets were reported during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the World Organization for Animal Health has recommended to improve SARS-CoV-2 surveillance on household animals to assess the risk of transmission between species. After such recommendation, we studied the potential SARS-CoV-2 infection in household dogs and cats in the city of Guayaquil, the most populated city in Ecuador.
Oral and nasal swab samples were collected from dogs and cats within 10 days of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result of their owners. Total ribonucleic acid was extracted and detection of viral gene targets N and ORF1ab was performed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.
From the 50 cats and dogs tested, 12 were SARS-CoV-2 positive, giving a total positivity rate of 24%. A total of 1 of 8 cats tested positive, whereas 11 of 42 dogs were positive, yielding a positivity rate of 12.5% and 26.2%, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed by whole genome sequencing. In addition, we also found a statistically significant association between SARS-CoV-2 pet positivity and food sharing with infected owners.
This study is the second active surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in household dogs and cats in Latin America. Moreover, it is the first study to address the risk factors associated with potential anthropogenic SARS-CoV-2 transmission to domestic cats and dogs. Given the high presence of free-roaming dogs and cats in rural and urban areas in Latin American countries and the high capacity shown by coronaviruses for interspecies transmission, our findings support the view that SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in pets is necessary to better understand the role that pet-human interaction plays in the COVID-19 spread.
在 COVID-19 大流行的第一年，有几例 SARS-CoV-2 从人类反向传播到宠物的病例报告。因此，世界动物卫生组织建议加强对家庭动物的 SARS-CoV-2 监测，以评估物种间传播的风险。在这一建议之后，我们研究了厄瓜多尔人口最多的城市瓜亚基尔的家庭犬和猫中 SARS-CoV-2 感染的可能性。
在主人 SARS-CoV-2 检测结果呈阳性后 10 天内，采集犬猫的口腔和鼻腔拭子样本。提取总核糖核酸，通过定量逆转录聚合酶链反应检测病毒基因靶标 N 和 ORF1ab。
在所检测的 50 只猫和狗中，有 12 只 SARS-CoV-2 呈阳性，总阳性率为 24%。检测到 1 只猫呈阳性，而 42 只狗中有 11 只呈阳性，阳性率分别为 12.5%和 26.2%。通过全基因组测序证实了 SARS-CoV-2 的存在。此外，我们还发现 SARS-CoV-2 宠物阳性与感染主人共享食物之间存在统计学显著关联。
本研究是拉丁美洲第二次对家庭犬和猫进行 SARS-CoV-2 主动监测。此外，这是第一项研究与人为 SARS-CoV-2 向家养猫和狗传播相关的风险因素的研究。鉴于拉丁美洲国家农村和城市地区有大量的流浪狗和猫，以及冠状病毒在物种间传播的高能力，我们的研究结果支持这样一种观点，即对宠物进行 SARS-CoV-2 监测对于更好地了解宠物-人类互动在 COVID-19 传播中的作用是必要的。
