According to new research from Wuhan in China more cats contract COVID-19 than was in the beginning of the pandemic. Experts at Huazhong Agricultural University took blood samples from more than 100 cats between January and March this year. They found the COVID-19 antibodies in around 15 percent of cats. The rate of infection in cats is higher than the total population of Londoners. The Londoners believed to be infected is estimated to be 13 percent.
The Study Conducted To See If Cats Contract COVID-19
The sample of cats involved in the study included 46 abandoned from 3 animal shelters, 41 from 5 pet hospitals, and 15 cats were from COVID-19 patient families. In the study, Nasal and anal swabs from the felines were taken. According to the results, none of the cats actually tested positive for COVID-19 or displayed obvious symptoms and none of them died. Most of the cats involved in the study had neutralizing antibodies. The antibodies are proteins that bind successfully to a virus and block infection. The three cats with the highest levels of antibodies were all owned by patients who had tested positive.
This is an intriguing development for scientists. The lead author of the study, Meilin Jin insists that there is still no evidence for cat-to-human transmission. However, according to Jin, precautions are necessary for the welfare of the animal.
The reason for COVID-19 infection in stray cats is not understood fully. It is reasonable to speculate that these infections are probably due to the contact with SARS-CoV-2 polluted environments. The infection may have also been via COVID-19 patients who fed the cats. Therefore, measures should be in place to maintain a suitable distance between COVID-19 patients and companion animals such as cats, dogs, and other pets. Hygiene and quarantine measures should also be established for those high-risk animals and that animals who were in contact with the patients.
Can Cats Spread COVID-19?
A cat in the UK recently made headlines to be a confirmed case of COVID-19 in a pet feline. The British government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency said no risk to humans could be scientifically shown. However, the research is not fully conclusive.
Italy has recently conducted the largest study to date to investigate COVID-19 in companion animals. The study says that cats are not a major carrier of the infection. But when animals were present at a high density such as on mink-breeding farms, the virus could spread from animals to humans more readily.
