Pet owners with COVID-19 or displaying symptoms have been advised to isolate themselves from their pets after a study found out that people could spread the virus to animals.
Scientists at the University of Glasgow discovered two cases of human-to-cat transmission of COVID-19 as part of the screening program of the feline population in the UK.
The cats, of different breeds, were living in separate households and exhibited mild to severe respiratory symptoms.
Researchers believe both cats contracted the virus from their owners, who displayed COVID-19 symptoms before the pets became ill.
One of the cats who contracted the disease from their fur parent died.
Due to this, experts advised COVID-positive owners to avoid close contact with their cats until they have fully recovered.
“There has been a very small number of cases of the virus that causes COVID-19 identified in domestic animals worldwide and it appears likely that the transmission was from infected humans to animals,” Daniella Dos Santos, senior vice president at the British Veterinary Association, told The Daily Telegraph.
According to the study, published in the Veterinary Record, there is no evidence of cat-to-human transmission or that cats, dogs or other domestic animals play any appreciable role in the epidemiology of human COVID transmission
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“Currently, animal-to-human transmission represents a relatively low risk to public health in areas where human-to-human transmission remains high,” Professor Margaret Hosie, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research and lead author of the study explained.
Hosie stressed the need to improve our understanding of whether exposed animals could play any role in transmission.
