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. 2021 Oct 23;13(11):2141.
doi: 10.3390/v13112141.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a Dog in Connecticut in February 2021

Dong-Hun Lee  1 , Zeinab H Helal  1   2 , Junwon Kim  1 , Amelia Hunt  1   2 , Alyza Barbieri  2 , Natalie Tocco  1   2 , Salvatore Frasca Jr  1   2 , Kirklyn Kerr  1   2 , Ji-Yeon Hyeon  1   2 , David H Chung  1 , Guillermo Risatti  1   2
Affiliations

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a Dog in Connecticut in February 2021

Dong-Hun Lee et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

We report the first detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a 3-month-old dog in Connecticut that died suddenly and was submitted to the state veterinary diagnostic laboratory for postmortem examination. Viral RNA was detected in multiple organs of the dog by reverse transcription real time-PCR (RT-qPCR). Negative and positive sense strands of viral RNA were visualized by in situ hybridization using RNAscope technology. Complete genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the hCoV-19/USA/CT-CVMDL-Dog-1/2021 (CT_Dog/2021) virus were conducted to identify the origin and lineage of the virus. The CT_Dog/2021 virus belonged to the GH/B1.2. genetic lineage and was genetically similar to SARS-CoV-2 identified in humans in the U.S. during the winter of 2020-2021. However, it was not related to other SARS-CoV-2 variants identified from companion animals in the U.S. It contained both the D614G in spike and P323L in nsp12 substitutions, which have become the dominant mutations in the United States. The continued sporadic detections of SARS-CoV-2 in companion animals warrant public health concerns about the zoonotic potential of SARS-CoV-2 and enhance our collective understanding of the epidemiology of the virus.

Keywords: COVID-19; Connecticut; RNAscope; SARS-CoV-2; dog; epidemiology; sudden death.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
SARS-CoV-2 RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) images generated from RNAscope LS RED Singleplex ISH assays performed in formalin-fixed-paraffin-embedded (FFPE) canine tissue samples using RNAscope® 2.5 LS Probe-V-nCoV2019-S and RNAscope® 2.5 LS Probe-V-nCoV2019-orf1ab-sense (Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Bio-Techne, Minneapolis, MN, USA). Sections of lungs, heart, kidney, and intestine from a SARS-CoV-2 exposed dog showing red staining that represent RNAscope probes hybridized with SARS-CoV-2 positive (sense) and negative (antisense) RNA. Lungs presented marked pulmonary congestion and edema, moderate fibrin in alveoli, desquamated pneumocytes, and hyaline membranes. Heart presented epicardial edema and mild interstitial hemorrhage. No pathological changes were observed in kidneys or intestines. Hematoxylin and eosin staining, scale bars 50 µm. Images were generated with SlideViewer 2.5.0.143918 software (3DHISTECH Ltd., Budapest, Hungary).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of the full-length SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences. The tree was rooted to the Wuhan-Hu-1 virus. Bootstrap values over 70% are shown next to the branches. Scale bar indicates nucleotide substitutions per site. The black circle identifies the hCoV-19/USA/CT-CVMDL-Dog-1/2021 (CT_Dog/2021) virus. The genetic lineages assigned using the PANGOLIN v2.0 (https://github.com/hCoV-2019/pangolin, accessed on 10 March 2021) are indicated with brackets.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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