Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA Shedding from Therapy Cat after Cluster Outbreak in Retirement Home

Schulz, Claudia; Wylezich, Claudia; Wernike, Kerstin; Gründl, Magdalena; Dangel, Alexandra; Baechlein, Christine; Hoffmann, Donata; Röhrs, Susanne; Hepner, Sabrina; Ackermann, Nikolaus; Sing, Andreas; Pink, Isabelle; Länger, Beate; Volk, Holger, A.; Becher, Paul; Sutter, Gerd; Neubauer-Juric, Antonie; von Köckritz-Blickwede, Maren; Beer, Martin; Volz, Asisa

doi:10.3201/eid2707.204670

Article Wed May 26 2021 CC BY 4.0

refereed

published

Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA Shedding from Therapy Cat after Cluster Outbreak in Retirement Home

We report a therapy cat in a nursing home in Germany infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 during a cluster outbreak in the home residents. Although we confirmed prolonged presence of virus RNA in the asymptomatic cat, genome sequencing showed no further role of the cat in human infections on site.