Study: Dogs, Cats Tested Positive For COVID — Even If Their Owners Didn’t

CIDRAP: With Or Without COVID-19, Households Have Pets With COVID Antibodies
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, 3.3% of tested dogs and 5.8% of tested cats tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in northern Italy, with higher rates in COVID-affected households, according to a recent study published in Nature Communications. All had negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results. Out of households with confirmed COVID infections, 6 of 47 (12.8%) dogs displayed antibodies and 1 in 22 (4.5%) cats did. The researchers also found antibodies in 2 of 133 (1.5%) dogs and 1 of 38 (2.6%) cats in confirmed COVID-negative households. (12/7)

CIDRAP: Study: OK For Moms With COVID, Newborns To Share Hospital Room
Only 1 of 62 newborns who breastfed and roomed with their 61 COVID-19–infected mothers in Lombardy, Italy, was diagnosed as having the novel coronavirus, suggesting that mother-to-infant transmission is rare, according to a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics. From Mar 19 to May 2, the prospective, six-center study monitored the infant and mother pairs for 20 days after birth. The one infected newborn was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after 5 days, when the mother developed bilateral pneumonia and pulmonary embolism requiring mechanical ventilation for 14 days. Two days after arrival in the NICU, the infant tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and had periodic, mild shortness of breath for a few days. (Van Beusekom, 12/7)

CIDRAP: Patients With Severe COVID-19 Found To Be Infectious Twice As Long
A November Canada Communicable Disease Report suggests that patients with mild COVID-19 are no longer infectious 10 days after diagnosis, but patients with severe disease are generally infectious for at least 20 days. Researchers with the Public Health Agency of Canada reviewed 302 studies of the COVID-19 infectious period, including reviews, peer-reviewed publications, and preprint articles through Aug 31. (12/7)

In news about brain scans —

AP: Why Are Some Scientists Turning Away From Brain Scans?
Brain scans offer a tantalizing glimpse into the mind’s mysteries, promising an almost X-ray-like vision into how we feel pain, interpret faces and wiggle fingers. Studies of brain images have suggested that Republicans and Democrats have visibly different thinking, that overweight adults have stronger responses to pictures of food and that it’s possible to predict a sober person’s likelihood of relapse. But such buzzy findings are coming under growing scrutiny as scientists grapple with the fact that some brain scan research doesn’t seem to hold up. (Renault, 12/8)

CNN: Stress During Pregnancy May Harm Unborn Baby's Brain, Studies Find - CNN
The stress a woman feels during pregnancy can affect the developing brain of her unborn child as documented on fetal brain scans, according to a new study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Open Network. Fetuses of expectant moms with higher anxiety levels were more likely to have weaker connections between two brain areas involved in executive and higher cognitive functions and stronger connections between parts of the brain connected to emotional and behavioral controls. (LaMotte, 12/7)