New research provides evidence that people have transmitted SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to cats during the pandemic in the UK. The study, which is published in Veterinary Record, detected the virus last year in cats that developed mild or severe respiratory disease.
Investigators used a range of laboratory techniques to show that two domestic cats from households with suspected cases of COVID-19 were infected with SARS-CoV-2.
“These findings indicate that human-to-cat transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, with the infected cats displaying mild or severe respiratory disease. Given the ability of the coronavirus to infect companion animals, it will be important to monitor for human-to-cat, cat-to-cat and cat-to-human transmission,” said lead author Margaret Hosie, PhD, of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.
Additional Information
Link to Study: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.247
About Journal
Veterinary Record (branded as Vet Record) is the official journal of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and has been published since 1888. It contains news, opinion, letters, scientific reviews and original research papers and communications on a wide range of veterinary topics, along with disease surveillance reports, obituaries, careers information, business and innovation news and summaries of research papers in other journals. It is published on behalf of the BVA by Wiley.
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