Journal
VIRUSES-BASEL
Volume 13, Issue 12, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/v13122480
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2; cats; transmission; reproduction number
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Domestic cats are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 virus and may play a role in its transmission and maintenance. Current research focuses on assessing the risk of cat-to-cat transmission, but further studies are needed to understand the risk of transmission from humans-to-cats and cats-to-humans. More data on household transmission and virus levels in the environment around infected cats are crucial for assessing these risks.
Domestic cats are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and given that they are in close contact with people, assessing the potential risk cats represent for the transmission and maintenance of SARS-CoV-2 is important. Assessing this risk implies quantifying transmission from humans-to-cats, from cats-to-cats and from cats-to-humans. Here we quantified the risk of cat-to-cat transmission by reviewing published literature describing transmission either experimentally or under natural conditions in infected households. Data from these studies were collated to quantify the SARS-CoV-2 reproduction number R-0 among cats. The estimated R-0 was significantly higher than one, hence cats could play a role in the transmission and maintenance of SARS-CoV-2. Questions that remain to be addressed are the risk of transmission from humans-to-cats and cats-to-humans. Further data on household transmission and data on virus levels in both the environment around infected cats and their exhaled air could be a step towards assessing these risks
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available