Coronavirus

[dturm]

I thought I’d share some thoughts about the coronavirus threat that is occupying the news now. I’m not convinced we’ll get accurate information as some deny there is a threat while others may tend to sensationalize the threat.

There are many coronavirus species that are pathogenic to specific species. Dogs have two major ones, an enteric one and a respiratory one. This COVID-19 is not one of these. Your dog has may have been vaccinated against the enteric coronavirus as it is frequently a part of the distemper vaccination.

There is no evidence that the COVID-19 is pathogenic to our pets or can be carried by them (except as a fomite – I’ll discuss that later).

I’ve had some epidemiological training and from the information now available the threat is real. This virus is a novel strain, that means that no one in the world population has any immunity. This is a situation ripe for rapid, world wide spread. We have no ability to isolate communities where the virus is currently present and with air travel, it’s just a matter of time before it spreads.

We don’t know enough about this virus now. We do know it can spread from person to person and it is thought that cough and touch are probably the methods of spread.

The major factor that scares me is that it appears you don’t have to be symptomatic to spread the virus. This means that containment will be just about impossible.

Mortality is thought to be about 2 % but we don’t know for sure because China has not been open with statistics.

We don’t need to panic, but some simple precautions are in order. I usually try to use the sanitizing wipes on carts at the grocery, but I don’t every time. Now I will. And I’ll regularly use hand sanitizer.

It’s probably a good idea to avoid large crowds. Wash your hands frequently. Avoid sick people. Use hand sanitizer when handling doors, money or any unknown surface.

Avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose. I’m not going to wear a mask, but that is an option if you are sick to avoid spread to others. You should try to stock your medications as much as possible as supply chains of medications could be at risk.

If you start to feel sick and run a fever, contact a doctor and avoid contact with other people or your pets. Sneeze or cough droplets can settle on any surface (your dog or cat) and they can become a physical vehicle for spreading the virus (fomite).

Those of you with more knowledge and training feel free to respond here. If you have questions, please ask.

If you have political comments, go somewhere else.

Doug, DVM

[dturm]

Western Washington in late Feb, I'd also be curious. If and when we get a good reliable antibody test, results could tell you.

[Finally_Time]

I have wondered about the "upper respiratory virus" my cat had in late February. He was sneezing a lot and had a real raspy horse meow. No eye or nasal discharge. His appetite was good and he didn't seem to be in any distress. Hard to tell if a middle-aged cat is sleeping more than normal.

I took him to the vet's and $800 later they diagnosed an upper respiratory virus and said to let it run its' course, no meds required. Two more days and he seemed just fine. About the same time I had what I thought was a mild cold with a general run-down feeling. Now I am questioning what we both might have had.

[BCSnob]

Add rabbits to the short list of animals that can become infected with SARS-CoV-2. This study did not investigate if rabbits inoculated with the virus can pass the virus onto humans.

Susceptibility of rabbits to SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Transmission of severe acute respiratory coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) between livestock and humans is a potential public health concern. We demonstrate the susceptibility of rabbits to SARS-CoV-2, which excrete infectious virus from the nose and throat upon experimental inoculation. Therefore, investigations on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in farmed rabbits should be considered.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic only months after its discovery in December 2019 (1). Slowing down its spread requires a full understanding of transmission routes, including those from humans to animals and vice versa. In experimental settings, non-human primates, ferrets, cats, dogs and hamsters have been found to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection (2-4). Moreover, ferrets, cats and hamsters were able to transmit the virus via the air (2, 4, 5). In domestic settings, both dogs and cats have been found to carry the virus, displaying very mild to more severe symptoms, respectively (5). Recently, SARS-CoV-2 has been isolated from mink at multiple Dutch farms. Workers at those farms carried viruses that were highly similar to the viruses detected in mink and phylogenetic analyses supported transmission from mink to workers (6). Thus, measures to control the spread of SARS38
CoV-2 should also include preventing spill over into potential reservoirs, especially since infectious agents can spread rapidly in livestock due to the high densities at which some animals are kept. Given the fact that rabbits are commonly farmed worldwide, we investigated the susceptibility of rabbits to SARS-CoV-2.

[BCSnob]

Here is a preprint on a serological test for SARS-CoV-2 across multiple animal species. This test can be used to determine if a pet (or any other animal) has had Covid-19.

Here's how it works. The receptor binding region of the virus (portion of the spike that binds to cells to start the infection) is coated in a plate (test device). Serum from the possibly affected animal is added to the plate and any antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds to the material coated on the plate. The excess serum is washed out and a species specific detection antibody is added to the plate. Any antibodies that bind to the SARs-CoV-2 material in the plate AND is the same species as the detection antibody will produce a titer signal. The same titer plate can be used for any species; only the detection reagent needs to be selected for the species being tested.

Multi-species ELISA for the detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in animals

I forgot to note that this is of interest to the medical community to enable determining what animal species might become reservoirs for this virus.

[dturm]

That is really cool. We have a couple of nasal vaccines available in Vet Medicine and they are very effective. Kind of difficult to administer to an uncooperative dog, but that's another story 🙂

It looks like this vaccine may be a year or more away as it has to go through phase 2 and 3 trials successfully before approval.

The great things about medical science right now is that the techniques have advanced so much in the recent years and there are so many people/businesses and countries working on this that we're probably going to get something that works in amazingly short time in terms of normal vaccine development time frame.

[DOTLDaddy]

Kinda interesting research where I used to work.

https://www.stlmag.com/health/news/washington-university-nasal-coronavirus-vaccine-is-working-in-mic...

[dturm]

Really neat possibilities..

I also read this morning that a saliva test for COVID is being more widely used (the one developed for and paid for by the NBA). They are using it at the U of Illinois for students and staff. They have repurposed the veterinary lab to process the tests. They get results in 2-3 hours and reliability is close to the PCR swab test.

This type and speed of testing is really necessary to safely open schools and businesses. It allows for almost immediate isolation of positive cases and effective contact tracing to reduce spread.

[BCSnob]

Along the same vain as using dogs to detect people infected with Covid-19 here is research using horses to prepare a possible treatment for Covid-19. Animals/pets to our rescue!

Equine hyperimmune globulin raised against the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein has extremely high neutralizing titers
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.17.254375

Summary:
Five horses were subcutaneously inoculated for 6 weeks with the recombinant S protein. Four out of the 5 horses presented a strong immune response. Blood was drawn from the horses, the antibodies produced against the SARS-CoV-2 spike were separated from the blood and treated to prevent a horse immune response when injected in humans. The sera of immunized horses displayed approximately 140-fold higher neutralizing titers than serum collected from Covid-19 patients. The horse antibodies produced against SARS-CoV0-2 is similar to therapies that have been safely used for decades against rabies, tetanus and snake venoms.

This is a more manufacturable method to produce a Covid-19 treatment analogous to infusion of serum drawn from Covid-19 patients.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

As a kid, I always wished I were a dog. Now as a senior citizen trying to avoid Covid - that still seems like a good wish 😉

[dturm]

A new study recently published about Corona in animals.

Summary:

A couple of Canadian researchers may have figured out why cats get COVID and dogs don’t: a mutation in the gene that provides a vector for the novel coronavirus. While a few noted dogs have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, no dogs have been diagnosed with COVID-19 to date.

Researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, published a study in which the authors write: “A single genetic change in the host receptor for the virus inherited in cats, but not dogs, correlates with feline susceptibility.”

In other words, during SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus targets the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 protein (ACE2). Dogs have a mutation in their ACE2 that gives them a natural resistance to the novel coronavirus. Cats don’t.

That seems to apply to all cats, large and small: the researchers determined that, along with cats, a number of different feline species—cheetahs, leopards, tigers, and lions—are likely to be susceptible to the virus. So are ferrets.

Dogs, bears, pigs, chickens, and ducks are not.

[dturm]

This was a summary of daily information. This story came from the news source near Duke University, don't know if print or TV.

The story indicated oral swabs of the dogs and cats, so I assume a PCR test. They did blood and swabs on the people.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

This is the bad news, from Dr Fauci himself, we will be able to address the "needs" for testing by end of May.

This is the key element of control the virus based on other countries' experience. And their lock step escalating approach of contact tracing, isolation, hospitalization when symptom appear... etc.

Vaccination is more than a year away but stop gap treatments may come ahead as the medical experts and scientists begin to learn and understand the nature of the virus.

Until then we should all be alert since virologists are seeing a come back come fall and coincidentally will come during the flu season -- and that would add complexity to the pandemic.

[BCSnob]

Did your source indicate what test method (rt-PCR vs serology) was used to determine the pug was positive for SARS-cov-2?

[dturm]

This is new information today:

A pug belonging to a pediatrician participating in a COVID-19 study at Duke University tested positive for infection with SARS-CoV-2 and displayed mild signs of illness for several days. The pediatrician, her husband and their son also tested positive for coronavirus infection, while the couple's daughter, their other dog and a pet cat did not.

Again this is probably a human to dog transmission.

The CDC recommends social distancing for your animals and isolation from them if you test positive for COVID.