gms | German Medical Science

Research questions: Are pets, their owners and contact veterinarians exposed to COVID-19 and Brucellosis in the Ashanti and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana? What are the risk factors of COVID-19 and Brucellosis in the study population? Is there co-infection with multiple pathogen (COVID-19 and Brucellosis)? Are there possible zoonotic linkages between humans and animals?

Method: Blood samples and nasopharyngeal swabs will be taken from dogs (246) and owners (385) for serological and molecular analysis. Structured questionnaire (385) will be used to gather information on risk factors of COVID-19 and brucellosis in dogs and their owners. To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed study, a cross-sectional hospital-based pilot study was conducted on fifty dogs using Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit (RDTs) for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen and antibodies while 20 dogs were tested for Brucella canis antibodies.

Results: Eight out of the 50 samples (16%) tested positive for the COVID-19 antibody test while one out of the 50 samples (2%) tested positive for the COVID-19 antigen test. One out of the 20 samples (5%) tested positive for brucellosis.

Discussion: The 5% seroprevalence of Brucella canis in dogs found in the study is higher than what was found by Hamdy et al. in South Africa but lower than what was established by Anyaoha et al., despite disparities in the sample sizes. The 2% positivity of COVID-19 detected as a result of antigen testing confirms active infection with the SARS-CoV-2 which is among the first of such reports in dogs using this RDTs.

The finding that age significantly influenced the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in dogs could be due to the high-straying behavior of dogs to mingle and find mating partners.

Conclusions: The pilot study showed that there is need to further evaluate the status of the diseases in dogs, their owners and contact Veterinarians hence we recommend a larger scale of evaluation as proposed.