Researchers have warned that cats can catch novel coronavirus but dogs are apparently not susceptible to infection, prompting the World Health Organization to say it will take a closer look at the transmission of the virus from humans to pets.
Reuters reported that a study published on the website of the journal Science, found that rodents could also be infected with SARS-CoV-2, the scientific term for the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.
However, researchers found that dogs, chicken, pigs and ducks were unlikely to contract the virus.
The study aimed to identify animals susceptible to the infection so that they can be used to test experimental vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 88,000 people worldwide since its appearance in China in early December.
It is believed that the SARS-Cove-2 virus has passed from bats to humans. With the exception of a few cases that have been detected for transmission of cats and dogs, there is no strong evidence that pets can be carriers of the virus.
The results of the tests for a tiger in the Bronx Zoo in New York City, who suffered a dry cough and loss of appetite after contact with a zoo guard with a corona, were positive on Sunday.
The study, which was based on research conducted in China in January and February, said that researchers found that cats and rodents are highly susceptible to infection.
They also found that infection can be transmitted between cats through respiratory droplets. Infected cats carry the virus in the mouth, nose and small intestine. Young cats exposed to the virus show lung, nose and throat pain.
The virus is found on the top of the respiratory system of rodents but does not cause severe disease.
Antibody tests showed that dogs were less likely to be infected with the virus, while no strains of the virus were found in pigs, chickens and ducks vaccinated with the virus.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it was working with its partners to check the role that pets could play in the spread of the highly contagious virus.
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