ArticleZoonoses and public health2022
Prevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies in cats in Germany and other European countries in the early phase of the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic.
Article in Zoonoses and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Longitudinal study on SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses in companion animals, Chile.The veterinary quarterly · 2025Article
- One Health serosurveillance of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in domestic animals from the metropolitan area of Panama.Veterinary world · 2025Article
- A Large-Scale Serological Survey in Pets From October 2020 Through June 2021 in France Shows Significantly Higher Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in Cats Compared to Dogs.Zoonoses and public health · 2025Article
- Serological Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 Exposure in Domestic Dogs and Cats, Thailand: Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Dogs Living in COVID-19-Positive Households.Transboundary and emerging diseases · 2024Article
- Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in dogs and cats during the early and mid-pandemic periods in Japan.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Article
- Development of a Multispecies Double-Antigen Sandwich ELISA Using N and RBD Proteins to Detect Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 in Domestic UK Cats from Alpha to Omicron: Swab Surveillance and Case Reports.Viruses · 2023Article
- Article
- A cross-sectional serosurvey of SARS-CoV-2 and co-infections in stray cats from the second wave to the sixth wave of COVID-19 outbreaks in Spain.Veterinary research communications · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Clinical Signs in Cats and Dogs from Confirmed Positive Households in Germany.Viruses · 2023Article
- Elevated angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) expression in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.Research in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Do Blood Phenotypes of Feline AB Blood Group System Affect the SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Serostatus in Cats?Viruses · 2022Article
- Prevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies in cats in Germany and other European countries in the early phase of the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic.Zoonoses and public health · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the first months of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), cases of human-to-cat transmission were reported. Seroconversion was shown in cats infected under experimental and natural conditions. This large-scale survey of 1,005 serum samples was conducted to investigate anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in domestic cats during the first 7 months of the pandemic in Germany and other European countries. In addition, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of two multispecies SARS-CoV-2 antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Results were confirmed by using an indirect immunofluorescence test (iIFT) and a surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT). Sera that were highly positive for feline coronavirus (FCoV) antibodies (n = 103) were included to correct for cross-reactivity of the tests used. Our results showed an overall SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity of 1.9% (n = 19) in a receptor-binding domain (RBD)-based ELISA, additional 0.8% (n = 8) were giving inconclusive results. In contrast, a nucleocapsid-based ELISA revealed 0.5% (n = 5) positive and 0.2% (n = 2) inconclusive results. While the iIFT and sVNT confirmed 100% of positive and 50%-57.1% of the doubtful results as determined in the RBD ELISA, the nucleocapsid-based assay showed a high discrepancy and only one of the five positive results could be confirmed. The results indicate significant deficits of the nucleocapsid-based ELISA with respect to sensitivity and specificity. Due to a significantly higher rate (5.8%) of positive results in the group of highly FCoV antibody-positive samples, cross-reactivity of the FCoV-ELISA with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies cannot be excluded. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of direct contact of domestic cats (n = 23) to SARS-CoV-2 positive owners. Considering one inconclusive result, which got confirmed by iIFT, this exposure did not lead to a significantly higher prevalence (4.4%; p = .358) among tested subjects. Overall, we conclude that cats are a negligible entity with respect to virus transmission in Europe.
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