First direct human‐to‐cat transmission of the SARS‐CoV‐2 B.1.1.7 variant

Abstract

A highly transmissible severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) caused the coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, which resulted the highest morbidity and mortality rates among SARS‐CoV and MERS‐CoV. SARS‐CoV‐2 B.1.1.7 variant indicated the higher transmission among human‐to‐human and increasing hospitalisation. SARS‐CoV‐2 infection was observed in domestic animals showing human‐to‐pet transmission. In the current study, we report the first direct known human‐to‐cat transmission of the SARS‐CoV‐2 B.1.1.7 variant within the same family. Previous findings showed that companion animals can get infected by COVID‐19 patients after 3–6 weeks; however, according to our molecular findings, the cat was infected by the viral variant at the same period. Moreover, B.1.1.7 infection caused and developed several clinical symptoms including cardiac and ocular abnormalities. Overall, our findings determined the first direct and high transmission ability of the B.1.1.7 variant from COVID‐19 affected family members to cat. This result showed that the SARS‐CoV‐2 B.1.1.7 variant could have the highest transition capacity from human to domestic cat as shown for human‐to‐human. The governmental or worldwide policies should consider more detailed against the war with COVID‐19 pandemic.

A Spike Protein-Based Subunit SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine for Pets: Safety, Immunogenicity, and Protective Efficacy in Juvenile Cats

“…Hematological parameters after challenge revealed a significant difference in the MCV between the PBS control and spike-alone injected groups on the one hand and the O/W- and alum-adjuvanted groups on the other. This is also consistent with the data from Curukoglu et al ( 36 ) where a slight increase in MCV was also detected after challenge. This suggests that the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts the MCV.…”

A Spike protein-based subunit SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for pets: safety, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy in juvenile cats

“…However, during hematological examination of blood samples, we additionally found signi cant increase in the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) between the control animal (PBS) and Antigen alone vaccinated groups compared to the SWE-and Alum vaccinated groups of juvenile cats after challenge. This is also consistent with the data from Curukoglu et al [39] which have demonstrated the rst human to domestic cat transmission of SARS-CoV-2 with N501Y mutation (Alpha variant) in Northern Cyprus, where a slight increase in the MCV was detected, and cat did not show serious symptoms. In view of the above, this work demonstrates that the SWE-adjuvanted-and Alum-adjuvanted Spike vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 virus was able to induce high levels of virus-neutralizing antibodies in serum of vaccinated juvenile cats and that the induced response was able to prevent infection of the upper and lower respiratory tract, and the cardiovascular system.…”

Cats and SARS-CoV-2: A Scoping Review

“…Additionally, three case studies detected the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2 in each case of natural infection, confirming the susceptibility of cats to this variant [ 22 , 26 , 42 ]. None of the included studies reported the detection of any other variant of concern.…”

“…Non-respiratory symptoms that were reported in different case studies included: Gastrointestinal symptoms [ 32 , 38 , 47 ], cardiac abnormalities [ 22 ], inappetence and apathy [ 28 , 38 ], ocular discharge [ 27 , 38 ], and fever [ 26 , 38 ]. …”