BANGKOK, June 21 (TNA) – A team of researchers at Prince of Songkla University has discovered that cats can transmit COVID-19 to humans.
Assoc Prof Dr Saranyu Chusri, assistant dean supervising Songklanagarind Hospital, told a press conference that Thailand might be the first country that confirmed COVID-19 transmission from a cat to people.
According to the assistant dean, the university had its research on the cat-to-human COVID-19 transmission published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases magazine of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States on June 6.
The research’s conclusion was related to two COVID-19 cases who are a father and his child diagnosed with the disease on Aug 4, 2021. They developed symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19 in Bangkok.
As no hospital beds were available for them in the capital, they were sent to Songklanagarind Hospital on Aug 8. They brought along with them their pet cat.
The cat was sent to an animal hospital where a 32-year-old woman veterinarian took nasal and anal swabs from it. The cat tested positive for COVID-19.
While the veterinarian was taking the nasal swab, the cat sneezed at her face. The veterinarian was wearing gloves and a face mask but not a face shield or goggles.
On Aug 13, the veterinarian coughed and had a fever. Finally she tested positive for COVID-19.
Researchers of the university analyzed genome sequencing and the times of infection and concluded that the veterinarian contracted COVID-19 from the cat that sneezed at her face. The veterinarian did not meet the owners of the cat and the variant of the coronavirus had not spread in Songkhla at that time.
The research proved the possibility of cat-to-human COVID-19 transmission. However, the transmission is rare as cats have a short viral shedding duration of five days. (TNA)
