AUTHOR=Garcia-Sanchez Paula , Romero-Trancón David , Falces-Romero Iker , Navarro Carrera Paula , Ruiz-Carrascoso Guillermo , Carmena David , Casares Jiménez María , Rivero-Juárez Antonio , Moya Laura , Rodón Jaume , Esperón Fernando , Pérez-Hernando Belén , Sánchez-León Rocío , Hurtado-Gallego Jara , Alcolea Sonia , Sainz Talía , Calvo Cristina , Méndez-Echevarría Ana 

TITLE=Zoonosis screening in Spanish immunocompromised children and their pets

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2024.1425870

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2024.1425870

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Introduction</title><p>Although pets provide several social–emotional benefits for children, the risk of zoonosis must be considered among immunocompromised individuals.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods</title><p>A prospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital including immunocompromised patients younger than 20 years owning dogs and/or cats. Colonization and/or infection was evaluated by stool studies, bacterial swabs, blood polymerase chain reaction and serological studies in both patients and their pets, to evaluate potential zoonotic transmission occurrence.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>We included 74 patients and their 92 pets (63 dogs, 29 cats). Up to 44.6% of the patients and 31.5% of the pets had at least 1 positive result. Up to 18.4% of pets’ fecal samples were positive (bacteria, parasites or hepatitis E virus). No helminths were observed despite the high frequency of incorrect intestinal deworming practices. Among children, gastrointestinal microorganisms were found in 37.3% (primarily <italic>Clostridium difficile</italic>). Colonization by <italic>Staphylococcus pseudintermedius</italic> was common among pets (8.0%) but not among children (0.0%). No shared colonization between owners and pets was observed, except in one case (<italic>Blastocystis</italic> in both patient and pet feces). Among patients, serologies were positive for <italic>Strongyloides stercoralis</italic> (14.8%), <italic>Toxocara canis</italic> (3.2%), <italic>Bartonella henselae</italic> (19.1%) and hepatitis E (5.6%). Serology was positive for <italic>Rickettsia</italic> spp. (22.6%) and <italic>Babesia</italic> spp. (6.5%) in dogs and for <italic>Leishmania</italic> spp. (14.3%) and <italic>Toxoplasma</italic> spp. (14.3%) in cats.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Exposure to zoonotic agents was detected in both patients and pets; however, shared colonization events were almost nonexistent. In our cohort, dogs and cats do not appear to entail high zoonosis transmission risk for immunocompromised patients.</p></sec>