A team of researchers at Prince of Songkla University has discovered that cats can transmit COVID-19 to humans.
Assoc Prof Dr Saranyu Chusri, assistant dean supervising Songklanagarind Hospital, told a press conference that Thailand might be the first country that confirmed COVID-19 transmission from a cat to people.
According to the assistant dean, the university had its research on the cat-to-human COVID-19 transmission published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases magazine of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States on June 6.
The research’s conclusion was related to two COVID-19 cases who are a father and his child diagnosed with the disease on Aug 4, 2021. They developed symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19 in Bangkok.
As no hospital beds were available for them in the capital, they were sent to Songklanagarind Hospital on Aug 8. They brought along with them their pet cat.
The cat was sent to an animal hospital where a 32-year-old woman veterinarian took nasal and anal swabs from it. The cat tested positive for COVID-19.
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