Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in Wuhan (Wu et al., 2020; Zou et al., 2020), China, and rapidly spread worldwide. Previous studies suggested cats could be a susceptible species to SARS-CoV-2 (Shi et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). Two cases of natural infection in dogs, without symptoms, were also reported in Hong Kong (Sit et al., 2020). Only 4 naturally infected cats have been reported to date (ProMED posts or OIE notifications). Among them, two exhibited cough and another one mild respiratory and digestive signs. SARS-CoV-2 infection was also reported in lions and tigers in the zoo in New York, suggesting susceptibility of wild Felidae to this virus. We investigated the putative infection by SARS-CoV-2 in cats and dogs from owners previously confirmed or suspected of being infected by SARS-CoV-2. Among them, one cat was tested positive by RT-qPCR on rectal swabs and serological analysis. The SARS-CoV-2 genome has been almost completely sequenced and clusters with the French human sequences circulating among infected humans.

After the unexpected emergence of Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) in northern Europe in 2006, another arbovirus, Schmallenberg virus (SBV), emerged in Europe in 2011 causing a new economically important disease in ruminants. The virus, belonging to the Orthobunyavirus genus in the Bunyaviridae family, was first detected in Germany, in The Netherlands and in Belgium in 2011 and soon after in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Denmark and Switzerland. This review describes the current knowledge on the emergence, epidemiology, clinical signs, molecular virology and diagnosis of SBV infection.

After its first description in Wuhan (China), SARS-CoV-2 the agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly spread worldwide. Previous studies suggested that pets could be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. Here, we investigated the putative infection by SARS-CoV-2 in 22 cats and 11 dogs from owners previously infected or suspected of being infected by SARS-CoV-2. For each animal, rectal, nasopharyngeal swabs and serum were taken. Swabs were submitted to RT-qPCR assays targeting 2 genes of SARS-CoV-2.All dogs were tested SARS-CoV-2 negative. One cat was tested positive by RT-qPCR on rectal swab.Nasopharyngeal swabs from this animal were tested negative. This cat showed mild respiratory and digestive signs. Serological analysis confirms the presence of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 in the both serum samples taken 10 days apart. Genome sequence analysis revealed that the cat SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the phylogenetic clade A2a like most of the French human SARS-CoV-2.This study reports for the first time the natural infection of a cat in France (near Paris) probably through their owners. There is currently no evidence that cats can spread COVID-19 and owners should not abandon their pets or compromise their welfare.

A newly developed Enzym Like Immuno Sorbant Assay (ELISA) based on the recombinant nucleocapsid protein (N) of Schmallenberg virus (SBV) was evaluated and validated for the detection of SBV-specific IgG antibodies in ruminant sera by three European Reference Laboratories. Validation data sets derived from sheep, goat and bovine sera collected in France and Germany (n = 1515) in 2011 and 2012 were categorized according to the results of a virus neutralization test (VNT) or an indirect immuno-flurorescence assay (IFA). The specificity was evaluated with 1364 sera from sheep, goat and bovine collected in France and Belgium before 2009. Overall agreement between VNT and ELISA was 98.9% and 98.3% between VNT and IFA, indicating a very good concordance between the different techniques. Although cross-reactions with other Orthobunyavirus from the Simbu serogroup viruses might occur, it is a highly sensitive, specific and robust ELISA-test validated to detect anti-SBV antibodies. This test can be applied for SBV sero-diagnostics and disease-surveillance studies in ruminant species in Europe.

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