HUMANS ENDANGER CATS BY INFECTING THEM WITH COVID-19 VIRUS

People infected with COVID-19 who have cats as pets can pass the virus to their feline companions, and the felines may develop life-threatening respiratory symptoms, a study published Friday, by Vet Record found.

In an assessment of two cats in Britain that lived in households with infected people and developed symptoms of the virus, one cat, four months old, developed severe pneumonia and died, the researchers said, Brian P. Dunleavy reported for United Press International (UPI).

The other cat, 6 years old, had cold-like symptoms, as well as conjunctivitis, or "pink eye," but survived. Each of the infected cats, along with nine other cats diagnosed with the virus globally, shared no feline-specific genetic strains of the virus, according to the researchers.

"Our findings indicate that human-to-cat transmission of [the coronavirus] occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.K., with the infected cats displaying mild or severe respiratory disease," study co-author Dr. Margaret J. Hosie told UPI in an email.

"Given the ability of the coronavirus to infect companion animals, it will be important to monitor for human-to-cat, cat-to-cat and cat-to-human transmission" as the pandemic continues, said Hosie, a professor of comparative virology at the University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research in Scotland.

Through the end of March, 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in household pets have been reported globally -- three in dogs and 11 in cats --according to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although no evidence exists that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus to people, it appears that it can spread from people to animals, especially during close contact, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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