A research group led by Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo investigated cats infected with the new coronavirus and found that they had long-term inflammatory damage to their lungs despite being asymptomatic.
According to the University of Tokyo, the new corona has continued to spread worldwide since human infections were reported at the end of 2019, but at the same time it also infects other animals such as pet dogs, cats and zoo tigers. I know I will.
The research group infected pet cats with the new corona, and after 3, 6 and 10 days, investigated the infection status of organs throughout the body including the respiratory organs. Virus growth was seen.In contrast, in the lower respiratory lung, the virus was detected in a limited part of the lung only on the third day.
No virus was detected in the digestive tract, heart, or brain, and during this time, the cat did not show symptoms such as fever, weight loss, coughing, or sneezing.The research group believes that the virus is actively growing in the upper respiratory tract, leading to efficient transmission among individual cats.
Furthermore, as a result of pathological analysis of the lungs of cats that recovered without symptoms 4 weeks after infection, it was found that chronic inflammation remained.Cats with strong inflammation suffered almost the same damage as severely ill humans.They also found that once infected cats were ingested with the same virus again, defensive immunological memory remained after 4 weeks, making it difficult to infect.
Paper information:[Emerging Infectious Diseases] Protective Immunity and Persistent Lung Sequalae in Domestic Cats after SARS-CoV-2 Infection
