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posted by Fnord666 on Friday May 15 2020, @01:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-knew-my-cat-was-out-to-get-me dept.

Study confirms cats can become infected with and may transmit COVID-19 to other cats:

Professor of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine Yoshihiro Kawaoka led the study, in which researchers administered to three cats SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a human patient. The following day, the researchers swabbed the nasal passages of the cats and were able to detect the virus in two of the animals. Within three days, they detected the virus in all of the cats.

The day after the researchers administered virus to the first three cats, they placed another cat in each of their cages. Researchers did not administer SARS-CoV-2 virus to these cats.

Each day, the researchers took nasal and rectal swabs from all six cats to assess them for the presence of the virus. Within two days, one of the previously uninfected cats was shedding virus, detected in the nasal swab, and within six days, all of the cats were shedding virus. None of the rectal swabs contained virus.

Each cat shed SARS-CoV-2 from their nasal passages for up to six days. The virus was not lethal and none of the cats showed signs of illness. All of the cats ultimately cleared the virus.

"That was a major finding for us -- the cats did not have symptoms," says Kawaoka, who also holds a faculty appointment at the University of Tokyo. Kawaoka is also helping lead an effort to create a human COVID-19 vaccine called CoroFlu.

Peter J. Halfmann, Masato Hatta, Shiho Chiba, Tadashi Maemura, Shufang Fan, Makoto Takeda, Noriko Kinoshita, Shin-ichiro Hattori, Yuko Sakai-Tagawa, Kiyoko Iwatsuki-Horimoto, Masaki Imai, Yoshihiro Kawaoka. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Domestic Cats. New England Journal of Medicine, 2020; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2013400


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  • (Score: 5, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 15 2020, @01:59PM (21 children)

    Funny thing, that. We had some annoying chest crud with some inability to catch your breath that didn't jive with the level of congestion it was causing roll through around December that the neighbor's cats also all caught, killed two out of sixteen. Nobody wore masks, nobody freaked the fuck out, nobody bought all the damned toilet paper, and everybody kept going to work. And we didn't have massive casualties that flooded the hospitals.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Troll=2, Insightful=1, Funny=1, Underrated=3, Disagree=1, Total=8
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @02:13PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @02:13PM (#994622)

    One of those cats caught a transpacific flight to Wuhan and the rest is history... And they have the temerity to blame the Chinese!

    This virus should be called Yank Pussy Flu.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @02:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @02:53PM (#994632)

      Call it Grab Pussy Flu so we know who to blame.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 15 2020, @03:00PM (11 children)

    You two need to learn what the Troll mod means. It does not mean "I don't like the facts you just stated".

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:16PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:16PM (#994646)

      Certainly Sir. Only thing, it is not so clear whom you are addressing. Is it the two cats or your balls?

      • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 15 2020, @03:21PM (1 child)

        If it's not clear, I wasn't addressing you. And what I say to my balls is between them and myself.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:24PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:24PM (#994650)

          An eye to eye talk eh?

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:55PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:55PM (#994668)

      Says the self professed troll giving an anecdote from the very beginning of the pandemic to suggest a dangerous course of action. How do you expect people to parse your trolling from your stupidity? Perhaps you should be glad they thought you were trolling.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @05:53PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @05:53PM (#994713)
      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 15 2020, @09:29PM (2 children)

        I didn't suggest squat, just laid out the facts. Anything you read into it is the fault of your own brain being used accidentally.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2020, @03:26AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2020, @03:26AM (#994863)

          TMB paraphrasing: We didn't do anything to protect ourselves and everything was fine.

          As usual you copy Trump in every way possible. I kinda wanna know whether you realize the shit you say, or if you say it without the slightest clue. Won't get the truth out of you either way, your ego can't afford you looking weak.

    • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday May 15 2020, @06:01PM (1 child)

      by captain normal (2205) on Friday May 15 2020, @06:01PM (#994714)

      An Anecdote is really not facts, nor are you living in a controlled study.
      As a side note, how far are you from a Tennessee state prison? Do you know any one who works on the staff in said prison?

      --
      When life isn't going right, go left.
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @06:47PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @06:47PM (#994731)

      Troll mods seem to happen on almost every coronavirus story when anyone suggests that people do anything even slightly less than panic to the maximum forever.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:58PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:58PM (#994669)

    So. You might have gotten lucky, then. Instead of dead.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 15 2020, @09:36PM (2 children)

      Everyone in the neighborhood had it around the same time. No humans died, not even the really old black folks. Might have been covid-19, might have been an older, weaker version of the corona virus, might have been something completely different with exactly the same symptoms and contagion to cats. I really have no idea but it does interest me. TR went to get himself tested for antibodies (I made him so STFU if we'd already had it) today, I'll let yall know the results when they get in next week.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2020, @03:28AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2020, @03:28AM (#994865)

        When the fatality rate is rather low it is to be expected that most people survive.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Saturday May 16 2020, @03:07AM

    by Reziac (2489) on Saturday May 16 2020, @03:07AM (#994855) Homepage

    Numerous articles on the topic on this blog; here's one:
    [About: Worms & Germs Blog is an educational website coordinated by Drs. Scott Weese and Maureen Anderson of the Ontario Veterinary College’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses. For those who don't know, Guelph is a world leader in vet medicine.]

    https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2020/05/articles/animals/dogs/covid-19-in-animalsa-few-updates/ [wormsandgermsblog.com]

    TL;DR: Ferrets and mink are extremely susceptible and sometimes die.
    Cats are susceptible and get sick but rarely die.
    Dogs also catch it but are generally asymptomatic.
    [From another article: pigs probably cannot get this coronavirus, which is a damn good thing.]

    Occurs to me to wonder how much of that last is cross-immunity from canine coronavirus; lots of dogs are vaccinated, and those that aren't have usually had corona as a puppy (where at worst it causes a week of hershey squirts).

    --
    And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Saturday May 16 2020, @05:17PM (1 child)

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 16 2020, @05:17PM (#995049) Homepage Journal

    December, eh? Where did this happen?