Animal Related COVID-19 Misc.

Scott Weese on May 29, 2020

A few quick updates on some recent SARS-CoV-2-related stories.

North Carolina dog: Positive result not confirmed

This case, a pug in North Carolina that had an oral swab that supposedly tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 as part of a Duke University household surveillance study, was reported a few weeks ago.

It was strange that there was no confirmation of the test result since then. Now we know why.

It appears the original test result was actually “inconclusive” (i.e. not strong enough to be truly considered positive). Follow up PCR testing was negative. That in itself doesn’t mean the dog wasn’t infected, since it could have been a short term infection that wasn’t sampled during peak shedding.

However, no antibodies were detected in the dog. That indicates the immune system didn’t recognize the presence of the virus. It’s not completely definitive, but supports this not being a true infection. Perhaps transient contamination of the dog’s mouth with virus from its infected owners could have caused the original inconclusive test result.
https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/usda-nc-pug-never-contracted-covid-19/19118584/ 

Hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine study debate

This topic is a bit outside the animal health-related area, but is still interesting.

The high profile Lancet paper that reported increased deaths associated with hydoxychloroquine use in COVID-19 patients, and led to WHO suspending that arm of its study, has been challenged because of numerous concerns about data and data availability.

It doesn’t mean the results are necessarily wrong, but questions about the data mean that things need to be clarified, which the authors have apparently been reluctant to do so far. An open letter to the journal outlines various problems with the report and has a large and reputable list of signatories.
https://zenodo.org/record/3864691#.XtEaTDOSlwL

Tiger SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing

There’s not really anything notable here in the big picture, but anyone with an inclination towards whole genome sequencing data might be interested in the sequence results from the virus isolated from one of the Bronx Zoo tigers.
https://mra.asm.org/content/9/22/e00468-20?rss=1

SARS-CoV-2 in a cat in Russia

Just one more report of a cat with SARS-CoV-2 infection, presumably from its infected owner. Not surprising.
https://promedmail.org/promed-post/?id=7380024

I agree Josh that it bears keeping up with what is going on in the animal world. I fear that many do not pay attention to it in regards to Sars-2.
Even if you do not have pets, it ultimately could effect us all. That is why I share Scott's posts, better to keep the enlightened among us informed.

[url]https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2020/06/articles/animals/dogs/sars-cov-2-in-dogs-usa/[/url] ;

The USDA has issued announced the first confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 infection in dog in the US. The affected dog was a German shepherd from New York state, and  its owner had COVID-19. Interestingly, the dog had respiratory disease,  something we haven’t seen reported in dogs. It tested positive by PCR and antibody testing. Another dog in the household was healthy, but also had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, indicating it had been infected too.

This one is noteworthy for a few reasons.

• The dog was sick. It’s not guaranteed that the dog had COVID-19. It could have had some other disease and more information may come to clarify that. However, if this dog was sick because of SARS-CoV-2 infection, it would run contrary to evidence to date that has indicated dogs can be infected but are not likely to get sick.
• Both dogs were infected. While the other dog didn’t get sick, it was infected. We’ve gone on the assumption that human-dog transmission is uncommon, and that still might be the case, but finding transmission to multiple dogs in a household is interesting.

Overall, it doesn’t change our main talking points much, and it highlights the need for more study.