To find out how contagious cats are to humans, three universities are going to investigate about 150 cats of corona patients. Owners who are working in healthcare and who have had the virus are currently being recruited.
Owners who have had corona and do not work in healthcare can also receive an invitation to have their pet tested.
Females prone to corona
“Cats are known to be susceptible to corona,” virologist Wim van der Poel told AD. “The idea is to see what type of disease it brings to cats, whether the animals get sick and how quickly and whether people are also infected by cats.”
That way, the idea is to better estimate the risk of corona spreading by pets. It can also be used to look at how to prevent corona infections in cats.
Do not hug or lick
At least one Dutch dog and three Dutch cats are or have been infected with coronavirus. This was announced a week ago by Minister Schouten of Agriculture.
The advice to cat lovers is to always wash your hands after petting a cat. Van der Poel also says that people with corona symptoms should keep their cats indoors for a while, and not to hug or lick them.
Also read: Unprecedented high demand for pets due to corona loneliness
According to professor of virology Wim van den Poel, especially owners who have had corona themselves should be alert. The professor, who specializes in virus transmission between humans and animals, says to Heart of the Netherlands that there is little chance that a dog or cat will become infected if their owners are healthy.
From animal to human
It is thought that animals do not get infected with the coronavirus as quickly and that animals get it from humans rather than the other way around. However, it is suspected that an employee of a mink farm in North Brabant has contracted the corona virus from a mink.
Therefore, Minister of Agriculture Schouten has ordered more than 100 mink farms to be examined for corona. Cats are also being examined: for the time being, the coronavirus has been injected into five cats. That could become more later.
Photo: Pixabay
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