After two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, a first case of cat-to-human transmission was found by Thai researchers. “A team in Thailand reports the first solid evidence of a pet cat infecting a person with SARS-CoV-2 – adding felines to the list of animals that can transmit the virus to humans.says the scientific journal Naturewho relayed the information this Thursday, June 29.
At the start of the pandemic, several studies had already shown that cats could infect each other. What if some researchers knew that the possibility of contaminating a human existedno case had yet been proven.
An accidental discovery
Published on June 6 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseasethis discovery is actually an accident, explained the co-author of the study. In August 2021, a father and son tested positive, before being placed in isolation in hospital. Their cat had in turn been tested for Covid-19, and the result came back positive. During her test, the cat sneezed in front of the vet, “who wore a mask and gloves, but no eye protection.“
Three days later, the vet developed several symptoms of Covid-19 including fever, sniffles and a cough. He then tested positive, although no member of his entourage was infected. This suggests that the cat could be the source of this contamination. “Genetic analysis also confirmed that the veterinarian was infected with the same variant as the cat and its owners, and that the viral genomic sequences were identical.”continue the study.
Humans remain the main source of the virus
But don’t worry, according to the researchers, these cases of transmissions are probably rare. Indeed, according to recent experimental studies, cats infected with Covid-19 expel very little virus and only a few days, indicated Leo Poon, virologist at the University of Hong Kong.
L’man therefore remains the main source of the virus, although some additional precautions when handling potentially infected cats can be taken. The people “should not abandon their cats, but take more care of it“, ends the virologist.
Until then, only cases of contamination between humans and mink – due to farms in Europe and North America – had been documented and verified, in a WHO report published in January 2021.
Source :
- First reported case of a person getting COVID from a cat, NatureJune 29, 2022
Read also:
- Covid-19: transmission from humans to cats and dogs is very common
- Coronavirus: can dogs (also) get sick?
- Covid-19: the virus would not be transmitted so easily by the hands
