Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Mar 22;21(1):196.
doi: 10.1186/s12917-025-04647-6.

Repeated detection of SARS-CoV-2 in pet dogs in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria: a cause for vigilance

I K Peter-Ajuzie  1   2   3 , C N Chinyere  3   4   5 , A B Olorunfemi  6   7 , L Z Kpasham  1   3 , O O Opaleye  7 , A S Bakarey  3   8 , O B Daodu  9 , A N Happi  10   11 , O A Olowe  7 , C T Happi  10   11 , D O Oluwayelu  4 , O Ojurongbe  6   7 , James O Olopade  12   13
Affiliations

Repeated detection of SARS-CoV-2 in pet dogs in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria: a cause for vigilance

I K Peter-Ajuzie et al. BMC Vet Res. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 was unprecedented in its devastating impact on the global economy, public health, travel and tourism, education, sports, religion, and social lives. Studies conducted thereafter on the disease and its causative agent, SARS-CoV-2, have highlighted the need for effective and sustainable public health interventions.

Methods: This study investigated the prevalence and endemicity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pet dogs using immunochromatography assay (IC) and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) of their blood, rectal swabs, and nasal swabs in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria between 2022 and 2024.

Key findings: For the IC, positivity rates of 11.7% (23/197), 85.7% (6/7), and 100% (3/3) were recorded for 2022, 2023 and 2024 while for the RT-qPCR, positivity rates of 37.9% (11/29), 33.3% (2/6) and 100% (3/3) were recorded for 2022, 2023 and 2024. This repeated detection of SARS-CoV-2 in three of the dogs tested over the three-year period suggests continuous shedding of the virus by these animals and indicates endemicity of the virus in the study area. Findings highlight the urgent need for optimized SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic tools tailored for veterinary applications to ensure rapid and reliable detection of the virus, especially in resource-constrained settings.

Conclusion: Considering the zoonotic nature of SARS-CoV-2 and its potential for mutation into more virulent strains that can be transmissible to humans, the findings of this study have significant implications for public health and implementation of One Health strategies by policymakers, and highlight the need for robust SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in domestic animals to mitigate potential zoonotic risks.

Keywords: Dogs; Endemicity; Nigeria; RT-qPCR; Rapid diagnostic test; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the University of Ibadan Animal Care and Use Research Ethics Committee (UI-ACUREC/093–0624/10). Also, informed consent of Dog owners was sought orally before enrollment of dogs into the study. Consent for publication: Not Applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Heatmap showing SARS-COV-2 detection results in seven dogs using IC and RT-qPCR. Virus was detected in at least two time points in dogs 1–6 using IC but only in 3 dogs using RT-qPCR. Dog 6 which consistently showed SARS-CoV-2 presence within the 3 years in both IC and RT-qPCR was reported to have later died in 2024. Virus detection in serum/plasma (S/P), nasal swab (NS) and rectal swab (RS) samples are shown in colour codes while positivity rates for each year are shown as number of positive samples/number of samples tested. Results of only 7 out of the 197 and 29 dogs tested by IC (a) and RT-qPCR (b) respectively are shown for the year 2022
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Heatmap showing SARS-COV-2 RT-qPCR results. Target SARS-COV-2 sites included nucleocapsid (N), envelope (E), and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase/spike RdRP/S genes in various samples obtained from seven of the dogs tested within three years. Repeated amplification of SARS-COV-2 genes in 2023 and 2024 was observed in Dog 3 while that of Dog 4 was observed in 2022 and 2024. Persistent amplification of SARS-COV-2 genes were however evident in Dog 6 for the three years. The Cycle threshold (Ct) values of the amplified genes are shown
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Feldmann H, Czub M, Jones S, Dick D, Garbutt M, Grolla A, et al. Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Med Microbiol Immunol. 2002;191:63–74. 10.1007/s00430-002-0122-5. - PubMed
    1. Morens D, Folkers G, Fauci A. The challenge of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Nature. 2004;430:242–9. 10.1038/nature02759. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Singhal T. A review of coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). Indian J Paediatrics. 2020;87:281–6. 10.1007/s12098-020-03263-6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, Li X, Yang B, Song J, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:727–33. 10.1056/NEJMoa2001017. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Happi AN, Ayinla AO, Ogunsanya OA, Sijuwola AE, Saibu FM, Akano K, et al. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in terrestrial animals in Southern Nigeria: potential cases of reverse zoonosis. Viruses. 2023;15:1187. 10.3390/v15051187. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources