Companion Pets Found With COVID-19 Antibodies

A large-scale study assessed SARS-CoV-2 infections in 919 animals living in northern Italy, at a time of frequent human infection. No animals tested PCR positive in this study published in the journal Nature on December 4, 2020.

However, 3.3% of dogs and 5.8% of cats had measurable SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titers, with dogs from COVID-19 positive households being significantly more likely to test positive than those from COVID-19 negative households.

'Based on current knowledge, it is unlikely that infected pets play an active role in SARS-CoV-2 transmission to humans. However, the animal-to-human transmission may be more likely under certain environmental conditions, such as the high animal population densities encountered on infected mink farms,' added these researchers.