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. 2023 Jan;95(1):e28408.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.28408.

Possible transmission of COVID-19 epidemic by a dog as a passive mechanical carrier of SARS-CoV-2, Chongqing, China, 2022

Chunbei Zhou  1   2 , Ailin Wu  1 , Sheng Ye  1   3 , Zongliang Zhou  4 , Hongjun Zhang  4 , Xiyou Zhao  5 , Ya Wang  4 , Huan Wu  4 , Dandan Ruan  4 , Shuang Chen  1   3 , Wenge Tang  1 , Shibin Xu  4 , Qin Li  1 , Kun Su  1   6   7
Affiliations

Possible transmission of COVID-19 epidemic by a dog as a passive mechanical carrier of SARS-CoV-2, Chongqing, China, 2022

Chunbei Zhou et al. J Med Virol. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in Yongchuan district of Chongqing, China in March 2022, while the source was unknown. We aimed to investigate the origin and transmission route of the virus in the outbreak. We conducted field investigations for all cases and collected their epidemiological and clinical data. We performed gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis for the cases, and draw the epidemic curve and the case relationship chart to analyze interactions and possible transmission mode of the outbreak. A total of 11 cases of COVID-19, including 5 patients and 6 asymptomatic cases were laboratory-confirmed in the outbreak. The branch of the virus was Omicron BA.2 which was introduced into Yongchuan district by a traveler in early March. Patient F and asymptomatic case G had never contact with other positive-infected individuals, but close contact with their pet dog that sniffed the discarded cigarette butts and stepped on the sputum of patient B. Laboratory test results showed that the dog hair and kennel were positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the 10 isolates were highly homologous to an epidemic strain in a province of China. The investigation suggested that the contaminated dog by SARS-CoV-2 can act as a passive mechanical carrier of the virus and might transmit the virus to humans through close contact. Our findings suggest that during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing hygiene measures and hand washing after close contact with pets is essential to minimize the risk of community spread of the virus.

Keywords: COVID-19; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; outbreak; transmission.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Temporal distribution of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) cases in this outbreak. Epidemic curves of cases were drawn according to the date of onset for the patients and of sampling for asymptomatic cases.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The transmission process of the entire coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)‐infected cluster
Figure 3
Figure 3
Neighbor‐joining phylogenetic tree based on the whole genome sequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) representative strains. The 10 cases of this outbreak were indicated by red dots while the PANGOLIN lineages were marked on the right. The phylogenetic tree was rooted by using Wuhan‐Hu‐1 (NC_045512.2).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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