Preprint Case Report Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

New SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Pet Cat with Severe Lung Disease in Italy

Nicolò Musso
ORCID logo ,
Angelita Costantino
,
Sebastiano La Spina
,
Alessandra Finocchiaro
,
Francesca Andronico
,
Stefano Stracquadanio
* ORCID logo ,
Luigi Liotta
ORCID logo ,
Rosanna Visalli
,
Giovanni Emmanuele
Version 1 : Received: 16 July 2020 / Approved: 17 July 2020 / Online: 17 July 2020 (16:02:28 CEST)

How to cite: Musso, N.; Costantino, A.; La Spina, S.; Finocchiaro, A.; Andronico, F.; Stracquadanio, S.; Liotta, L.; Visalli, R.; Emmanuele, G. New SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Pet Cat with Severe Lung Disease in Italy. Preprints 2020, 2020070398. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202007.0398.v1. Musso, N.; Costantino, A.; La Spina, S.; Finocchiaro, A.; Andronico, F.; Stracquadanio, S.; Liotta, L.; Visalli, R.; Emmanuele, G. New SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Pet Cat with Severe Lung Disease in Italy. Preprints 2020, 2020070398. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202007.0398.v1.

Abstract

The pandemic respiratory disease COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in Wuhan in December 2019 and then spread throughout the world; Italy was the most affected European country. Despite the close pet-human contact, little is known about the predisposition of pets to SARS-CoV-2. Among these, felines are the most susceptible. In this study, a domestic cat with clear symptoms of pneumonia, confirmed by Rx imaging, was found to be infected by SARS-CoV-2 using quantitative RT–qPCR from a nasal swab. This is the first Italian study reporting on the request of the scientific community to focus attention on the possible role of pets as a SARS-CoV-2 reservoir. An important question remains unanswered: did the cat die from SARS-CoV-2 infection?

Keywords

SARS-CoV-2; pet cat; RNA-extraction; pneumonia

Subject

LIFE SCIENCES, Virology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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