Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the potential role of animals in catching and spreading disease has been scrutinized by scientists. This is because the virus that causes Covid-19 belongs to the family of coronaviruses that cause disease in various mammals.
The evidence is that this virus Occurred in the bat A colleague at the University of Glasgow recently found that the subtype of the coronavirus to which the virus belongs Bat populations have increased since the 1940s..
Therefore, study whether the virus can be transmitted to companion animals, whether these animals can show symptoms of infection, and whether they may play a role in the epidemiology of the disease. It makes sense for someone to think.
Cats are the most popular pets in Britain. According to the 2019 survey, 11 million cats In households nationwide. Public concerns about cats were initially Bronx Zoo Tigers and Lions In New York, it was found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
In addition, cats from Covid-19 households have been reported sporadically. Hong Kong, Belgium, France, Spain And that Us It has been confirmed to be virus positive.
So, are some of their cats involved in this pandemic in England somehow? I decided to look it up.
Test sample
In early May, my colleagues and I received ethical approval to retrospectively test cats for SARS-CoV-2, and soon began screening daily respiratory samples taken from cats throughout the UK. We too Appeal started Veterinarians seeking samples from suspicious cases.
After screening hundreds of samples, the collaboration resulted in the detection of cats with SARS-CoV-2 in southern England that were being sampled in mid-May. Further samples submitted to a veterinary colleague of the Institute of Animal Health revealed that this cat had an antibody response to the virus, indicating that it actually experienced a true infection, which We have confirmed that it is not a simple case of sample contamination.
The situation shows that the cat was infected with the virus from a pet owner who had previously tested positive for Covid-19.
At this point, the World Animal Health Organization was notified by the British Chief Veterinarian and alerted to the press. We are currently preparing a paper to announce the findings.
So what does this case tell us? Our study was consistent with the British Covid-19 outbreak, which focused on cats experiencing respiratory symptoms. One out of hundreds of screened individuals was found, indicating that cats are relatively rare. This is reinforced by the fact that no other cat in the household has been infected by either the owner or the infected cat.
The cat experienced mild symptoms, including runny nose and nasal nose, but these signs were consistent with a feline herpesvirus infection and were also positive for this cat. There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 made this cat ill, but thankfully, the cat and her owner were all fully recovered.
until today, 18 million Although Covid-19 has been confirmed worldwide, only a handful of infected cats have been detected worldwide.
Therefore, all available evidence suggests that cats are not involved in the spread of Covid-19. However, the importance of this kind of animal surveillance work is 1 million minks Recently, it has been disposed of in the Netherlands and Spain due to its involvement in the spread of the disease.
Our suspicion in the case of cats is that infection of cats simply represents a “spillover” from the human epidemic, and we are currently looking at the viral genomic sequence from the case we found to investigate this hypothesis. Is analyzing.
Our results and the results of other studies, such as a study in the US showing ly infected cats, Temporarily infected, Can give a sense of security to the masses who have pets.
It’s very unlikely that your cat will have a coronavirus, and if so, it probably won’t be involved in spreading it any further.
