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Home / Equine Research Bank / Viruses / Serological and Molecular Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 in Hor...
Viruses2024; 16(2); 224; doi: 10.3390/v16020224

Serological and Molecular Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 in Horses and Cattle in Switzerland from 2020 to 2022.

Abstract: Horses and cattle have shown low susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, and there is no evidence of experimental intraspecies transmission. Nonetheless, seropositive horses in the US and seropositive cattle in Germany and Italy have been reported. The current study investigated the prevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in horses and cattle in Switzerland. In total, 1940 serum and plasma samples from 1110 horses and 830 cattle were screened with a species-specific ELISA based on the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) and, in the case of suspect positive results, a surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT) was used to demonstrate the neutralizing activity of the antibodies. Further confirmation of suspect positive samples was performed using either a pseudotype-based virus neutralization assay (PVNA; horses) or an indirect immunofluorescence test (IFA; cattle). The animals were sampled between February 2020 and December 2022. Additionally, in total, 486 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), oropharyngeal, nasal and rectal swab samples from horses and cattle were analyzed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA via reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Six horses (0.5%; 95% CI: 0.2-1.2%) were suspect positive via RBD-ELISA, and neutralizing antibodies were detected in two of them via confirmatory sVNT and PVNA tests. In the PVNA, the highest titers were measured against the Alpha and Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants. Fifteen cattle (1.8%; 95% CI: 1.0-3.0%) were suspect positive in RBD-ELISA; 3 of them had SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibodies in sVNT and 4 of the 15 were confirmed to be positive via IFA. All tested samples were RT-qPCR-negative. The results support the hypotheses that the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in horses and cattle in Switzerland was low up to the end of 2022.
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Publication Date: 2024-01-31 PubMed ID: 38400000PubMed Central: PMC10892882DOI: 10.3390/v16020224Google Scholar: Lookup
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Cite This Article

APA
Hüttl J, Reitt K, Meli ML, Meili T, Bönzli E, Pineroli B, Ginders J, Schoster A, Jones S, Tyson GB, Hosie MJ, Pusterla N, Wernike K, Hofmann-Lehmann R. (2024). Serological and Molecular Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 in Horses and Cattle in Switzerland from 2020 to 2022. Viruses, 16(2), 224. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16020224

Publication

Viruses
ISSN: 1999-4915
NlmUniqueID: 101509722
Country: Switzerland
Language: English
Volume: 16
Issue: 2
PII: 224

Researcher Affiliations

Hüttl, Julia
  • Center for Laboratory Medicine, Veterinary Diagnostic Services, Frohbergstrasse 3, 9001 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
  • Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Reitt, Katja
  • Center for Laboratory Medicine, Veterinary Diagnostic Services, Frohbergstrasse 3, 9001 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Meli, Marina L
  • Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Meili, Theres
  • Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Bönzli, Eva
  • Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Pineroli, Benita
  • Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Ginders, Julia
  • Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Schoster, Angelika
  • Clinic for Equine Internal Medicine, Equine Department, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Jones, Sarah
  • School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Bearsden Road, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK.
Tyson, Grace B
  • School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Bearsden Road, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK.
  • MRC-University of Glasgow, Centre for Virus Research, Bearsden Road, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK.
Hosie, Margaret J
  • MRC-University of Glasgow, Centre for Virus Research, Bearsden Road, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK.
Pusterla, Nicola
  • Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Wernike, Kerstin
  • Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.
Hofmann-Lehmann, Regina
  • Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Horses
  • SARS-CoV-2 / genetics
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / veterinary
  • Switzerland / epidemiology
  • RNA, Viral
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Antibodies, Viral

Grant Funding

  • MC_PC_19026 / Medical Research Council
  • MC_UU_00034/6 / Medical Research Council
  • G-53420-01-01 / Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (Bundesamt für Lebensmittelsicherheit und Veter-inärwesen, BLV

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

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