Musso Nicolò, Costantino Angelita, La Spina Sebastiano, Finocchiaro Alessandra, Andronico Francesca, Stracquadanio Stefano, Liotta Luigi, Visalli Rosanna, Emmanuele Giovanni
Section of Microbiology, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy.
Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy.
Pathogens. 2020 Sep 11;9(9):746. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9090746.
The pandemic respiratory disease COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in Wuhan in December 2019 and then spread throughout the world; Italy was the most affected European country. Despite close pet-human contact, little is known about the predisposition of pets to SARS-CoV-2. Among these, felines are the most susceptible. In this study, a domestic cat with clear clinical signs of pneumonia, confirmed by Rx imaging, was found to be infected by SARS-CoV-2 using quantitative RT-qPCR from a nasal swab. This is the first Italian study responding to the request of the scientific community to focus attention on the possible role of pets as a viral reservoir. An important question remains unanswered: did the cat actually die due to SARS-CoV-2 infection?
由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的大流行性呼吸道疾病COVID-19于2019年12月在武汉出现，随后蔓延至全球；意大利是受影响最严重的欧洲国家。尽管宠物与人类密切接触，但关于宠物对SARS-CoV-2的易感性知之甚少。其中，猫科动物最为易感。在本研究中，一只经X线成像确诊有明确肺炎临床症状的家猫，通过对鼻拭子进行定量RT-qPCR检测，发现感染了SARS-CoV-2。这是意大利第一项响应科学界要求、关注宠物作为病毒宿主可能作用的研究。一个重要问题仍未得到解答：这只猫是否真的死于SARS-CoV-2感染？
