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. 2022 Aug;69(5):439-450.
doi: 10.1111/zph.12932. Epub 2022 Mar 2.

Prevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies in cats in Germany and other European countries in the early phase of the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic

Julia Maria Adler  1   2 , Corinna Weber  2 , Kerstin Wernike  3 , Anna Michelitsch  3 , Karin Friedrich  2 , Jakob Trimpert  1 , Martin Beer  3 , Barbara Kohn  4 , Klaus Osterrieder  1   5 , Elisabeth Müller  2
Affiliations

Prevalence of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies in cats in Germany and other European countries in the early phase of the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic

Julia Maria Adler et al. Zoonoses Public Health. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

During the first months of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), cases of human-to-cat transmission were reported. Seroconversion was shown in cats infected under experimental and natural conditions. This large-scale survey of 1,005 serum samples was conducted to investigate anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in domestic cats during the first 7 months of the pandemic in Germany and other European countries. In addition, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of two multispecies SARS-CoV-2 antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Results were confirmed by using an indirect immunofluorescence test (iIFT) and a surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT). Sera that were highly positive for feline coronavirus (FCoV) antibodies (n = 103) were included to correct for cross-reactivity of the tests used. Our results showed an overall SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity of 1.9% (n = 19) in a receptor-binding domain (RBD)-based ELISA, additional 0.8% (n = 8) were giving inconclusive results. In contrast, a nucleocapsid-based ELISA revealed 0.5% (n = 5) positive and 0.2% (n = 2) inconclusive results. While the iIFT and sVNT confirmed 100% of positive and 50%-57.1% of the doubtful results as determined in the RBD ELISA, the nucleocapsid-based assay showed a high discrepancy and only one of the five positive results could be confirmed. The results indicate significant deficits of the nucleocapsid-based ELISA with respect to sensitivity and specificity. Due to a significantly higher rate (5.8%) of positive results in the group of highly FCoV antibody-positive samples, cross-reactivity of the FCoV-ELISA with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies cannot be excluded. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of direct contact of domestic cats (n = 23) to SARS-CoV-2 positive owners. Considering one inconclusive result, which got confirmed by iIFT, this exposure did not lead to a significantly higher prevalence (4.4%; p = .358) among tested subjects. Overall, we conclude that cats are a negligible entity with respect to virus transmission in Europe.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cats; seroprevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Sample distribution over the months (Germany and other European countries)
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Anti‐FCoV antibodies in NovaTec Units (NTU) detected in Group 2 (n = 55)
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Overall prevalence considering positive (+) and inconclusive (i) samples detected by ERBD (receptor‐binding domain‐based ELISA) and ENC (nucleocapsid‐based ELISA) in Germany and other European countries
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Positive (+) and inconclusive (i) specimens shown in percentage per group and assay. G1 (Group 1 = Randomly chosen samples), G2 (Group 2 = Anti‐FCoV antibody‐positive cats) and G3 (Group 3 = Cats with SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive owners)
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Origins of positive or inconclusive samples for anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 antibodies within Germany. Doubtful results are displayed in parenthesis. (a) ELISA‐positive specimens confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence test (n = 20). (b) Sera which were found to be positive or inconclusive by ERBD (n = 24). (c) Samples that tested positive or inconclusive in ENC (n = 6)
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
(a) Prevalence of positive (+) and inconclusive (i) samples per month and assay detected in Group 1 (Randomly chosen specimens) considering Germany and other European countries. (b) Number of sera collected per month
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