Subject(s)
Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use , Antigens, CD20/immunology , BNT162 Vaccine/administration & dosage , COVID-19 Drug Treatment , Lymphoma, B-Cell/immunology , Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/immunology , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , COVID-19/immunology , COVID-19/virology , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Lymphoma, B-Cell/blood , Lymphoma, B-Cell/drug therapy , Lymphoma, B-Cell/virology , Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/blood , Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/drug therapy , Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/virology , Male , PrognosisABSTRACT
Since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was first identified in early 2020, rare cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in pet cats have been reported worldwide. Some reports of cats with SARS-CoV-2 showed self-limiting respiratory or gastrointestinal disease after suspected human-to-feline transmission via close contact with humans with SARS-CoV-2. In the present study, we investigated a cat with SARS-CoV-2 that was presented to a private animal clinic in Northern Italy in May 2020 in a weak clinical condition due to an underlying intestinal B-cell lymphoma. The cat developed signs of respiratory tract disease, including a sneeze, a cough and ocular discharge, three days after an oropharyngeal swab tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA using two real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays for the envelope (E) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene. Thus, SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was detectable prior to the onset of clinical signs. Five and six months after positive molecular results, the serological testing substantiated the presence of a SARS-CoV-2 infection in the cat with the detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) immunoglobulin (IgG) antibodies and neutralizing activity in a surrogate virus neutralization assay (sVNT). To the best of our knowledge, this extends the known duration of seropositivity of SARS-CoV-2 in a cat. Our study provides further evidence that cats are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 under natural conditions and strengthens the assumption that comorbidities may play a role in the development of clinical disease.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Neutralizing/immunology , Antibodies, Viral/immunology , COVID-19/veterinary , Cat Diseases/immunology , Lymphoma, B-Cell/veterinary , Animals , Antibody Formation , COVID-19/immunology , COVID-19/virology , Cat Diseases/virology , Cats , Immunoglobulin G/immunology , Italy , Lymphoma, B-Cell/immunology , Lymphoma, B-Cell/virology , SARS-CoV-2 , Spike Glycoprotein, CoronavirusABSTRACT
We report the case of an HIV-1-infected patient, treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody for a B-cell lymphoma previously treated by autologous stem cell transplant. He suffered from chronic COVID19 and we monitored by plasma SARS-CoV-2 RNA by highly sensitive droplet-based digital PCR technology (ddPCR). Under tocilizumab therapy and despite a first clinical improvement biologically associated with decreasing inflammatory markers, a slight increase of SARS-CoV-2 RNAaemia quantified by ddPCR was highlighted, confirming the absence of viral efficacy of this treatment and predicting the subsequent observed deterioration. As expected, his complete recovery, finally achieved after COVID-19 convalescent plasmatherapy, strictly paralleled plasma SARS-CoV-2 RNA clearance. With these results, we confirmed the interest of SARS-CoV-2 RNAaemia monitoring by ddPCR in COVID-19 patients, particularly during treatment, and firstly showed that this new and specific biomarker could be helpful to select eligible patient for anti-IL6 receptors therapy considering the variable levels of efficacy recently observed with such therapy.