Case report of COVID-19 transmission from sneezing cat
3 August 2022. Related: Coinfections and complications, COVID-19: transmission & prevention, COVID-19.
Kirk Taylor, HIV i-Base
Please, no laughing, this is not funny.
Researchers report the unfortunate case of a young vet in Taiwan who caught COVID-19 after being sneezed on by one of their less considerate feline clients.
The hypothesis is supported by genome analysis and the paper is available as an open access article online.
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Such transmission events are rare, but this case report provides evidence that domestic pets can serve as an additional source of COVID-19.
COVID-19 has been detected in multiple animal species, including cats, dogs, tigers, lions and mink. Combined with evidence for reverse zoonoses (human-to-animal transmission), it is important to consider additional zoonotic transmission routes. These events are rare, and cats appear to have shorter infectious periods, shedding lower levels of virus overall.
Ref: Sila, T. et al. Suspected Cat-to-Human Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, Thailand, July-September 2021 Emerg Infect Dis . 2022 Jul;28(7):1485-1488. doi: 10.3201/eid2807.212605. Epub 2022 Jun 6.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9239874