[STUDY] Cats Infected With COVID-19 Have Same Variants as Owner; Human-to-Cat Transmission?

Griffin Davis , Tech Times 11 May 2023, 02:05 pm

A new study claims that cats infected with COVID-19 have the same variants as their owners.

[STUDY] Cats Infected With COVID-19 Have Same Variants as Their Owners; Is There a Human-to-Cat Transmission?

(Photo: BERTHA WANG/AFP via Getty Images)
This photo, taken on January 30, 2022, shows a cat sitting on a cardboard box at a flower market in the Prince Edward area of Hong Kong - a city where nearly 10 percent of all households have a cat or dog.

If this is true, then it means that COVID-19 in cats mirrors the coronavirus health crisis in humans. The new study was led by the MRC-University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research.

Back in April 2021, health experts already confirmed that there's a human-to-cat transmission.
But, the new study revealed a retrospective association between the dominant COVID-19 variants in cats and the timeline of their emergence in people.

[STUDY] Cats Infected With COVID-19 Have the Same Variants as Their Owners

According to US News' latest report, a new study observed COVID-19 infections in cats located in the United Kingdom.

(Photo: PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)
A cat waiting to be adopted looks out of its cage at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Shelter and Veterinary Hospital in Sydney on April 1, 2020. - Lonely Aussies in home isolation are adopting rescue animals at record rates as COVID-19 coronavirus shutdowns bite, RSPCA New South Wales said on March 31.

Also Read: New COVID-19 Arcturus Variant Raises Concerns; Strain Has Very Unusual Symptom

They studied them from April 2020 until February 2022, observing blood samples from over 2,300 felines.

Based on their findings, these felines were infected with Delta and Alpha variants during the period when people were also contracting the virus strains.

"Our findings suggest that there have been continued human-to-cat transmissions of SARS-CoV-2," explained Grace Tyson, a Ph.D. student at MRC-University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research, via Phys Org.

Cat Owners With COVID-19 Should Be Cautious

Grace Tyson, who is also the lead study author, stated that it is critical to monitor COVID-19 infection in cats, especially those who are in close contact with infected owners.

Aside from this, she added that it is important to observe changes in the transmissibility of new COVID-19 strains in cats and humans.

Another thing they discovered is the immunity patterns in cats to different coronavirus variants. Because of this, involved health experts believe that human-to-cat COVID-19 transmission is still happening across the globe.

"Currently, our recommendation is that if cats regularly go outside, then they should still be allowed outdoor access if their owners have COVID-19," said Prof. Margaret Hosie at MRC-University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research.

In other news, health experts allegedly discovered the cause of post-COVID-19 memory loss. We also reported about a recent study, which claimed that COVID-19 face masks are inefficient.

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