No abstract

No abstract

Pets from COVID‐19 owners were screened for SARS‐CoV‐2 (April‐May 2020). From 23 pets, an asymptomatic cat showed positive RT‐qPCRs results from oropharyngeal swab (negative rectal swab). Remaining pets were negative. This suggests that cats can contract the virus from their infected owners and may act as potential hosts for SARS‐CoV‐2. Their role in carrying live or infectious viruses and disseminating them needs more investigation.

No abstract

We amplified gene sequences from Anaplasma phagocytophilum , Borrelia garinii , B. valaisiana , B. turdi , Rickettsia monacensis , R. helvetica , R. sibirica sibirica , and Rickettsia spp. (including Candidatus Rickettsia vini) in ticks removed from birds in Spain. The findings support the role of passerine birds as possible dispersers of these tick-borne pathogens.

‘Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis’ is an uncultured emerging bacterium that is provisionally included in the family Anaplasmataceae. In Europe, it is transmitted by Ixodes ricinus ticks. Rodents are the reservoirs. It is widely distributed in mammals (both wild and domestic) and birds. It causes an inflammatory disease in humans with underlying diseases, but the microorganism also affects immunocompetent individuals in which asymptomatic infection has been recognized. A high degree of suspicion and the use of molecular tools are needed for the correct diagnosis. Efforts to cultivate it and to investigate its pathogenesis should be a priority.

The genus Rickettsia (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) includes Gram-negative, small, obligate intracellular, nonmotile, pleomorphic coccobacilli bacteria transmitted by arthropods. Some of them cause human and probably also animal disease (life threatening in some patients). In these guidelines, we give clinical practice advices (microscopy, serology, molecular tools, and culture) for the microbiological study of these microorganisms in clinical samples. Since in our environment rickettsioses are mainly transmitted by ticks, practical information for the identification of these arthropods and for the study of Rickettsia infections in ticks has also been added.

During April-May 2020, the presence of respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in pets living with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) owners was analyzed. From 23 pets, a cat without clinical symptoms showed positive results for SARS-CoV-2 in oropharyngeal swab using three RT-qPCR assays (negative rectal swab). SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in the remaining pets. Our finding suggests that cats may act as asymptomatic dispersers of SARS-CoV-2, although viral transmission from animals to humans seems unlikely.