engleski

The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 virus among dogs in households with confirmed human infection

At the end of 2019, a new zoonotic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 appeared, which caused a global pandemic and represents the world most important public health challenge. Initially, sporadic cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported in dogs, but with the increased number of disease outbreaks in humans, the number of recorded infections of dogs worldwide is increasing. The primary source of infection in dogs is humans, but dogs' role in the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 is still insufficiently investigated. At the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, a study is being conducted about the impact of living in COVID-19 positive households on pet animals' health. Owners who had recovered from COVID-19 were invited to sign their dogs for physical examination and serological testing for SARS-CoV-2. Based on epidemiological and epizootiological parameters, 78 dogs were selected for the serosurvey. Serum samples were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and microneutralisation test (MNT) as a confirmatory method. Both used methods were developed and validated in the Virology Unit of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb. Of the total number of dogs tested, IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were confirmed by ELISA in 43.59%, while neutralisation antibodies were confirmed in 25.64% of dog serum samples. Seroprevalence in this study was significantly higher than studies in the United States, Italy and France. In later studies, neutralisation antibodies were detected in between 11.9% and 15.4% of tested dogs. In the general population of dogs in Zagreb, whose owners have an unknown status for COVID-19, the seroprevalence determined by ELISA during the first wave of the pandemic was 7.45%. In comparison, during the second wave, the percentage of infected increased to 14.69%. Compared to the above, the seroprevalence determined by this study is significantly higher, which confirms the increased risk of SARS-CoV- 2 virus infections in dogs from COVID-19 positive households and confirms that COVID-19 is a reverse zoonosis. The high percentage of infections in dogs and the fact that COVID-19 is an asymptomatic infection in a certain number of people also raises the question of the possible use of dogs as sentinel animals, but this needs further investigation.

SARS-CoV-2 ; dogs ; ELISA ; VN test ; seroprevalence ; anthropozoonosis

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