A new coronavirus known as SARS‐CoV‐2 emerged in Wuhan in 2019 and spread rapidly to the rest of the world causing the pandemic disease named coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID‐19). Little information is known about the impact this virus can cause upon domestic and stray animals. The potential impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 has become of great interest in cats due to transmission among domestic cats and the severe phenotypes described recently in a domestic cat. In this context, there is a public health warning that needs to be investigated in relation with the epidemiological role of this virus in stray cats. Consequently, in order to know the impact of the possible transmission chain, blood samples were obtained from 114 stray cats in the city of Zaragoza (Spain) and tested for SARS‐CoV‐2 and other selected pathogens susceptible to immunosuppression including Toxoplasma gondii, Leishmania infantum, feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) from January to October 2020. Four cats (3.51%), based on enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using the receptor binding domain (RBD) of Spike antigen, were seroreactive to SARS‐CoV‐2. T. gondii, L. infantum, FeLV and FIV seroprevalence was 12.28%, 16.67%, 4.39% and 19.30%, respectively. Among seropositive cats to SARS‐CoV‐2, three cats were also seropositive to other pathogens including antibodies detected against T. gondii and FIV (n = 1); T. gondii (n = 1); and FIV and L. infantum (n = 1). The subjects giving positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 were captured in urban areas of the city in different months: January 2020 (2/4), February 2020 (1/4) and July 2020 (1/4). This study revealed, for the first time, the exposure of stray cats to SARS‐CoV‐2 in Spain and the existence of concomitant infections with other pathogens including T. gondii, L. infantum and FIV, suggesting that immunosuppressed animals might be especially susceptible to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection.

Animal infections with SARS-CoV-2 have been reported in different countries and several animal species have been proven to be susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2 both naturally and by experimental infection. Moreover, infections under natural conditions in more than 20 mink farms have been reported where humans could have been the source of infection for minks. However, little information is available about the susceptibility of pet animals under natural conditions and currently there is no SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological assessment occurrence in household ferrets. In this study, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was evaluated in serum samples obtained from 127 household ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) in the Province of Valencia (Spain). Two ferrets tested positive to SARS-CoV-2 (1.57%) by in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on receptor binding domain (RBD) of Spike antigen. Furthermore, anti-RBD SARS-CoV-2 antibodies persisted at detectable levels in a seropositive SARS-CoV-2 domestic ferret beyond 129 days since the first time antibodies were detected. This study reports for the first time the evidence of household pet ferrets exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in Spain to date.

In spring and summer 2020, six outbreaks of condemnation of jaundiced lamb carcasses were diagnosed in different farms in Aragón region, Spain. Anaplasma ovis was identified in all affected farms. Four hundred and ninety-two lambs from two affected farms were more closely examined. Clinical examination, haematologies, biochemistries, histopathology and microbiological and molecular analyses were performed. After slaughter, 34.84% of the lambs showed jaundiced carcasses and 79.64% presented splenomegaly at the abattoir. All tested lambs with icteric carcasses showed positive A. ovis PCR, although 72.72% of the unaffected lambs also tested positive. However, the bacterial load was significantly higher in the animals that showed jaundiced carcasses (Cq: 25.00 vs 26.16; p = 0.004). Moreover, all the tested lambs that showed severe anaemia were PCR positive. On the contrary, the PCR negative lambs did not show anaemia. Lambs that presented icteric carcasses displayed severe regenerative anaemia with significantly lower erythrocyte count (7.18 vs. 11.97), haematocrit (26.89 vs. 34.82) and haemoglobin (8.50 vs. 11.10) than unaffected lambs. Reticulocyte count (18.80 vs. 5.65) was also significantly increased in affected animals. This article describes a new disorder caused by Anaplasma ovis that is producing significant economic losses associated with the carcass condemnation of apparently healthy lamb.

Virions of molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV), a member of the poxviridae, were isolated directly from lesions of individual patients and characterized by restriction enzyme analysis. The comparative analysis of the cleavage patterns and Southern blot hybridization of 14 independently isolated virus samples revealed that MCV isolates can be classified into two different types. The majority of MCV isolated from clinically typical skin lesions (13 of 14) showed similar DNA cleavage patterns and were termed MCV type 1, whereas one isolate derived from a vaginal lesion showed a completely different DNA cleavage pattern and therefore was termed MCV type 2. For detailed investigation of the viral genome, a defined gene library of MCV DNA sequences was established. The Bam HI DNA fragments of the viral genome of MCV type 1 prototype isolate 1/80 was inserted into the bacterial plasmid vector pAT153. With the exception of terminal fragments (fragments A and B) of the viral genome, all other DNA fragments were cloned. All cloned Bam HI DNA fragments were individually identified by digestion of the recombinant plasmid DNA with different restriction enzymes and screened by hybridization of plasmid DNA to viral DNA.

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Background Feline leishmaniosis is a vector-borne parasitic disease caused by Leishmania spp. Leishmania infection in dogs is prevalent in the Mediterranean basin, but in other animals, such as cats, it could also play a role in the epidemiology of the disease. Information on the geographical distribution and epidemiological features of L. infantum infection in cats is scarce, particularly in urban stray cats living in regions where canine leishmaniosis is endemic. As diagnosis can be challenging, combining different serological and molecular methods is a useful approach. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of infection of L. infantum in apparently healthy stray cats in an endemic region of Spain (Zaragoza city) using serological and molecular methods, and to compare the results of the different techniques. Methods The prevalence of Leishmania infection was studied in stray cats captured in urban and peri-urban areas of Zaragoza. Blood was collected from each animal for serology and molecular analysis. Three serological methods, namely the immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western blot (WB), were used to detect L. infantum antibodies and a real-time PCR (qPCR) assay was used to detect L. infantum DNA. The results were analyzed by Fisher’s exact test and Cohen’s kappa statistic (κ)  to assess the level of agreement between the diagnostic techniques. Results Serological analysis of blood samples from 180 stray cats revealed 2.2% (4/179) Leishmania infection positivity by IFAT, 2.8% (5/179) by ELISA and 14.5% (26/179) by WB. Leishmania DNA was detected by qPCR in 5.6% (10/179) of the cats. Sixteen cats (8.9%) tested positive by only one serological technique and four tested positive by all three serological methods used. The overall rate of infected cats (calculated as the number of cats seropositive and/or qPCR positive) was 15.6%, and only two cats tested positive by all the diagnostic methods. A significant association was found between male cats and a positive qPCR result. Comparison of the techniques revealed a fair agreement in seropositivity between blood qPCR and IFAT (κ = 0.26), blood qPCR and ELISA (κ = 0.24), WB and ELISA (κ = 0.37) and WB and IFAT (κ = 0.40). The highest agreement between seropositive results was between IFAT and ELISA (κ = 0.89), and the lowest was between blood qPCR and WB (κ = 0.19). The prevalence of the feline leukemia virus antigen was 4.49% (8/178 cats) and that of the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibody was 6.74% (12/178), while co-infection with both retroviruses was observed in one female cat (1/178). Leishmania ELISA and IFAT seropositivity were statistically associated with FIV status by the chi-square test. Conclusions The results obtained in this study, using serological tests and qPCR, indicate the existence of L. infantum asymptomatic infection in apparently healthy stray cats in the city of Zaragoza, an endemic area in Spain.

We examined several procedures for surgical tail docking; with and without general anaesthesia (GA), including the use of a topical wound gel formulation to provide pain relief (PR) and improve healing after surgery, containing local anaesthetics lignocaine and bupivacaine, with cetrimide and adrenalin. Forty-four lambs were recruited into four equal cohorts: Groups A and C, the tail was excised with a scalpel without anaesthesia or stitches; Groups B and D, the tail was surgically excised and stitched under GA; Groups C and D wounds were immediately sprayed with PR. Behavioural observations identified that Groups A and C displayed significantly less pain-related behaviours than Groups B and D shortly after the procedure, especially if treated with PR. Similarly, the mean of days when animals showed no signs of wound infection was longer in the groups not undergoing stitching. Finally, treatment with PR appeared to reduce the cortisol response and avoided the elevation of serum amyloid A in lambs where the tail was excised without general anaesthesia. In conclusion, surgical tail-docking without GA but where wounds are immediately sprayed with PR, appears as an affordable and more welfare-appropriate method for conducting tail docking in lambs.

Small Ruminant Lentiviruses (SRLV) are highly prevalent retroviruses with significant genetic diversity and antigenic heterogeneity that cause a progressive wasting disease of sheep called Maedi-visna. This work provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of the last 40 years (1981–2020) of scientific publications on SRLV individual and flock prevalence. Fifty-eight publications and 314 studies were included. Most articles used a single diagnostic test to estimate prevalence (77.6%), whereas articles using three or more tests were scarce (6.9%). Serological tests are more frequently used than direct methods and ELISA has progressively replaced AGID over the last decades. SRLV infection in sheep is widespread across the world, with Europe showing the highest individual prevalence (40.9%) and being the geographical area in which most studies have been performed. Africa, Asia, and North America show values between 16.7% to 21.8% at the individual level. South and Central America show the lowest individual SRLV prevalence (1.7%). There was a strong positive correlation between individual and flock prevalence (ρ = 0.728; p ≤ 0.001). Despite the global importance of small ruminants, the coverage of knowledge on SRLV prevalence is patchy and inconsistent. There is a lack of a gold standard method and a defined sampling strategy among countries and continents.