Anne frank house, Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands

London, July 1 Are you Covid-positive? Stay away from your feline and pooch friends to avoid the risk of passing on the infection to them, suggests a study, which found that infection in pets is more common than thought.The researchers from the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said that the most likely route of transmission is from human to pet, rather than the other way round."If you have Covid-19, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, just as you would with other people," said Els Broens from the varsity."The main concern, however, is not the animals' health they had no or mild symptoms of Covid-19 but the potential risk that pets could act as a reservoir of the virus and reintroduce it into the human population."Fortunately, to date no pet-to-human transmission has been reported. So, despite the rather high prevalence among pets from Covid-19 positive households in this study, it seems unlikely that pets play a role in the pandemic," Broens saidFor the study, researchers studied 156 dogs and 154 cats of people who had tested positive for Covid-19. Six cats and seven dogs (4.2 per cent) had positive PCR tests and 31 cats and 23 dogs (17.4 per cent) tested positive for antibodies.With pets in 40/196 households (20.4 per cent) having antibodies for the virus, the study reveals that Covid-19 is highly prevalent in pets of people who have had the disease.A similar study led by Dorothee Bienzle, Professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada showed that cats that spent more time with their owners seemed to be at higher risk of infection than dogs. And cats that slept on their owner's bed were more likely to have Covid.It is because cats' biology, including their viral receptors, the "locks" the virus unpicks to enter cells, make them more susceptible to Covid-19 than dogs. Cats are also more likely to sleep near their owner's face than dogs, increasing their exposure to any infection. Bienzle recommended keeping pets away from people with Covid and their pets."While the evidence that pets can pass the virus on to other pets is limited, it can't be excluded. Similarly, although pets have not been shown to pass the virus back to people, the possibility can't be completely ruled out," she noted.The studies were presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Anne Frank HouseFOLLOW

Anne frank house, Latest News

Yogesh Gole Aurangabad, Aug 9: goEgoNetwork, a Pune-based startup, will be manufacturing electric vehicle (EV) chargers at a facility ... ...

Tokyo, July 31 The Indian women's hockey team made a historic entry into the quarterfinals, finishing fourth in ... ...

New Delhi, July 29 The Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs V. Muraleedharan on Thursday ... ...

New Delhi, July 20 World's richest man Jeff Bezos has landed back on Earth after successfully completing the ... ...

The Hague, July 13 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has apologised on behalf of his cabinet for making ... ...

A chef has created the ‘world’s most expensive burger’ and it sold for 5,000 euro, nearly ₹4.5 lakhs. The ... ...

The Netherlands became the latest European Union (EU) country to approve the Serum Institute of India (SII)-manufactured Covishield vaccine for travellers, days after India pushed for the approval of its COVID-19 vaccines in Europe. ...

London, July 1 Are you Covid-positive? Stay away from your feline and pooch friends to avoid the risk ... ...