The first case of coronavirus transmission from cat to man was documented by Thai researchers at Prince of Songkla University. The study was published in the scientific journal "Emerging Infectious Diseases" and reports the situation of the feline, belonging to a virus-positive family, who allegedly sneezed in the face of a veterinarian , who was then infected with the Delta variant, the same as 'animal.
That cats could be infected by humans without developing severe symptoms was already known, but no one had shown the reverse contagion until now .
In the experts' report, the father and son from Bangkok were hospitalized in Songklha and the 10-year-old house cat was taken to a clinic for testing, which tested positive for the virus. During the visit, he allegedly sneezed in the face of the vet, who was wearing gloves and a mask but had no protection in front of her eyes. After a few days, the woman developed the disease but did not come into contact with infected people. Subjected to the analysis of the viral genome, it was discovered that she had been infected with a version of the Delta variant which, at that time, was not widespread in Songkhla, but was the same as that of the virus that had affected the cat and its owners.
"We've known for two years that it was one of the possibilities," says Angela Bosco-Lauth, an infectious disease expert at Colorado State University, in Nature. Given the widespread use of cats as pets, the fact that it took so long to prove this could mean that cat-to-human infection is not all that common: so according to experts there is currently no type. alarm , because the virus is even more likely to pass from humans to animals.
(Unioneonline / ss)
