Pets:
The first case of a domestic animal being infected with CoViD-19, as well as the first case of a person,
Our pets can be infected with viruses.It's interesting that we may not even notice it. This feature was confirmed by Italian veterinarians. They studied blood and excrement samples from more than 1.5 thousand cats and dogs from different cities in northern Italy, and came to the conclusion that 3-4% of them had antibodies to the new type of coronavirus.
Another proof:Coronavirus was found in dogs from Hong Kong, two Spitz dogs. This was confirmed by tests carried out after the infection was discovered in their owners. The Spitz did not show any signs of illness. A similar story happened with the Belgian cat - the only difference was that she felt bad: she was breathing heavily and had problems with stool.
Those tests for SARS-CoV-2 that have passed at homeanimals showed only the presence of a viral genome, and not the living viruses themselves, which settled and multiplied in the body, explains Sara Caddy, a virologist and veterinarian surgeon from the University of Cambridge (Clinical Research Fellow in Viral Immunology and Veterinary Surgeon, University of Cambridge ). Therefore, a positive result does not at all indicate that the cat or dog has become infected with COVID-19.
State Duma deputy, ex-head of Rospotrebnadzor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko believes that pets can be carriers of the disease.
These can be domestic animals, as well as all Hymenoptera, snakes and raccoon dogs.
Gennady Onishchenko, State Duma deputy, ex-head of Rospotrebnadzor of Russia
At the same time, the deputy clarified,that these animals do not have any influence on the epidemiology of the process: “The coronavirus has already overcome the interspecies barrier and is being transmitted from person to person.”
Tigers:
In early April, SARS-CoV-2 was discovered inAmerican animal world. Patient zero was a female Malayan tiger named Nadya at the New York Zoo. They decided to check the animal after several lions and tigersmanifestedsigns of respiratory disease. Interestingly, Nadya’s neighbors - lions and tigers - did not have the pathogen.
As in the previous cases, it is believed thatthe animal became infected from a person: either through the saliva of a trainer who sneezed and coughed in the immediate vicinity, or from direct contact with objects on which biological traces of a sick employee remained. In general, everything is like people.
Hamsters:
Biologists from the United States have found that deer hamsters, widespread North American rodents, can become infected with a new type of coronavirus and transmit it to relatives.
These are quite large rodents, they live inall regions of North America, from Alaska to the southern borders of Mexico. Deer hamsters live in large groups that consist of a male, several females and their young, and are often in contact with humans. In the past, deer bugs have caused outbreaks of various viral diseases in the United States.
Subsequent observations showed that the infectedindividuals transmitted the virus to all relatives in the cell in just two days. Those, in turn, infected another batch of rodents, which the researchers later placed in an enclosure with sick hamsters. At the same time, antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 appeared in animals only two weeks after infection.
Monkey:
Doctors from China have identified differences in how mucheffectively the new type of coronavirus infects various species of primates. To do this, scientists have followed the development of infection in the body of rhesus monkeys, cynomolgus monkeys and South American marmosets. Rhesus were the most vulnerable to COVID-19.
Differences in infection patterns between speciesmonkeys do exist. In particular, infection with coronavirus had almost no effect on the state of the marmosets. There were traces of the virus in their bodies, but they did not develop pneumonia and did not have high temperatures.
This suggests that the virus can stablyspread among these animals, as well as evolve, since several mutations were found in the RNA of coronavirus particles that were extracted from the tissues of sick hamsters.
Minks:
Biologists tracked the spreadcoronavirus infection on two mink farms in the Netherlands and not only found out that these animals often die from coronavirus, but also found traces of viral particles in the dust and air of the premises where animals are kept. This suggests that minks may well transmit a new type of coronavirus to farm workers.
Observations have shown that the virus between animalsactively spread by airborne droplets or aerosol. This is supported by the fact that all minks lived in separate cells and could not contact each other, but at the same time the virus quickly spread from one individual to another, infecting several hundred animals by the end of April. As in the case of humans, in some cases, due to infection in animals, pneumonia and severe complications appeared.
According to researchers, minks die fromcoronavirus infection with about the same frequency as humans. In total, about 1.2–2.6% of individuals died on the two farms, which is several times higher than the normal mortality rate among minks at this time of the year. In the body of most of them, biologists have recorded traces of pneumonia and coronavirus.
What do scientists say?
The results of one of the most recent studies on this topic were published on April 20. Scientiststypedin Wuhan 102 cats and tested them for SARS-CoV-2.Of these, only 15 patients tested positive. Antibodies were found in the blood of these animals, which are produced by the immune system as a response to the pathogen.
Curiously, only three of the infected catsturned out to be pets of people who had once been ill with CoViD-19. The other 12 are free and independent residents of the Wuhan streets. This is curious because it cannot be said with 100% certainty that yard cats were infected from humans.
Another group of Chinese scientists, from the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, alsoheldanimal tests.However, not only on cats, but also on ferrets, dogs, chickens, ducks and pigs. Each group of animals, consisting of five animals, was injected with large doses of SARS-CoV-2 through the nose. It turned out that the pathogen practically does not “multiply” in the bodies of pigs and birds. Poor replication has been seen in dogs. Strong in cats and ferrets.
Head of the Department of Veterinary Virology named after.V. N. Syurin Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology named after. K.I. Skryabina Elena Yarygina admits that absolutely all animals can be carriers of the virus.
What are the symptoms of the disease?
The issue of symptomatology in animals is poorly understood. For example, a study by Harbin scientists does not mention any obvious ailments. The Belgian cat suffered from diarrhea, vomiting and shortness of breath. The tigress Nadia from New York was also seen coughing. Dogs in all cases suffered from the disease and were completely asymptomatic, as if nothing had happened.
Stephen Van Gucht, Belgian virologist,is talkingthat the virus behaves similarly in cats and humansway. They say that in the respiratory cells of both of them there is a kind of “doorknob” with the help of which the virus penetrates inside. This “handle” is called a receptor proteinACE2... It is for him that the infection clings, it is he who is similar in humans and cats. Based on this, it can be assumed that it is the respiratory symptoms that may be evidence of the disease in the animal.
Will there be a vaccine for animals?
On August 17 it became known that RosselkhoznadzorTogether with the Institute of the Ministry of Defense, they created a test system to determine coronavirus infection in people and animals. Now work is underway to create a vaccine against COVID-19 for cats.
According to Dankvert, the first samples for wide production trials may appear by the fall. At the same time, the drug will be universal for all animals susceptible to COVID-19.
The head of the Rosselkhoznadzor admitted that throughFor a while, people will want to vaccinate pets as well - for example, cats that contract the coronavirus. If the vaccine is in demand, then it will be produced for veterinary clinics, he promised. The drug is currently in need of safety studies and testing of its effectiveness.
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