World's first tiger novel coronavirus tests positive

After the cat and the dog, the tiger has become the animal world another "victim" of a novel coronavirus.A four-year-old Malay tiger tested positive for a novel coronavirus at the Bronx zoo in New York on April 5, becoming the first animal in the United States to be infected with a novel coronavirus and the first case in the world.Masks to buy

The animal developed a dry cough and loss of appetite on March 27 and was tested for the virus on April 2, the zoo said.In addition, three tigers and three African lions at the zoo showed similar symptoms but were not tested, while the rest of the animals showed no signs of illness.

The statement said the animals may have been infected by a zoo worker infected with an asymptomatic novel coronavirus infection."Although they have lost some of their appetite, they are expected to make a full recovery under veterinary care."

At present, how to view the "virus fierce than the tiger" has become a topic of concern.In response, Scott Weese, a professor of medicine at the university of guelph in Canada, told China news service that tiger infection with covid-19 should not be interpreted too much as a "red flag" and that if domestic cats are susceptible to the virus, people should not be too surprised if wild cats are infected.

"It's important to note that cats in zoos don't usually have a lot of direct contact with keepers.""Therefore, infection can be caused by very brief direct or indirect contact, and people need to pay more attention to the role of animals in the transmission of the virus," he said.

There is a long history of big cats in zoos being infected with epidemic viruses.Gregory c. gray, a professor of infectious diseases at duke university in the United States, told China news service that from 2014 to 2015, there were three cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Siberian tigers in zoos in China's yunnan province.Scott wiese also points out that big cats can be infected with a variety of viruses, both those that spread mainly in wild animals and those that are transmitted by domestic cats.

Therefore, whether to close the zoo after the first case of a tiger infected with a novel coronavirus has become a focus of public debate.In fact, the Bronx zoo has been closed since March 16, but the animals did not show signs of infection until March 27.Scott wiese said the closure was to maintain a "social distance" and that in most zoos the animals in captivity were already far enough away from the public not to worry about the risk of virus exposure."Like other public facilities, the main consideration in closing a zoo should be to avoid crowds."

In addition, the news that the virus was more virulent than the tiger has reignited public concerns about whether a family pet could infect or spread a novel coronavirus.

Recently, Chinese animal medical experts conducted serum tests on hundreds of cats collected in wuhan and found that 15 of the 102 samples (about 14.7%) tested positive for virus after the outbreak. The results were reported by many media as "14.7% of cats infected with novel coronavirus".

One of the above researchers, professor jin meilin of huazhong agricultural university clarified that in the absence of a defined scope of the case alone picked out "14.7% of the cat has been infected with a novel coronavirus" is not accurate, will mislead the public, causing panic.The team stressed that all cats were asymptomatic and there was no evidence of widespread infection in the cat population, and objected to the practice of abandoning cats.

According to the official website of the world organization for animal health (oie), a total of pet infections have been reported in Hong Kong, China and Belgium.

"Cats and dogs are currently found to be more infected with novel coronavirus than other domestic animals.""It is more likely that they had closer contact with patients infected with a novel coronavirus, which led to more cats and dogs being tested," gray said.The official website of the world organization for animal health also reached the same conclusion.

According to the analysis, novel coronavirus infection requires the use of ACE2(angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) as the receptor. Different species have different ACE2 receptor structure. The structure of ACE2 in cats determines the relative susceptibility of this species, but it does not mean that the virus will become sick after infection, and it does not mean that it will transmit the virus to humans.Oie stresses in particular that there is currently no evidence that pets can be the cause of transmission of novel coronavirus to humans.

Given that human-to-animal transmission may already be taking place, Scott weiss has three pieces of advice for pet families: limit contact with animals if they become infected;If a family member is infected, limit contact between the family animal and other people or animals.Keep a "social distance", including pets, and try to avoid contact with people and animals.

"The most important thing is to be rational and avoid overreacting.

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