Breaking news!!!
Papille
is a 9-year-old cat who lives in France. When her owner came down with COVID-19
earlier this year, the faithful kitty would snuggle up against him in bed. But
soon, Papille fell ill, as well. At first, her humans didn’t know what was
wrong with her. They wondered if she might also have contracted COVID-19, and
they took her to a vet school outside of Paris to get tested. Sure enough,
Papille tested positive.
As
the death toll of COVID 19 keeps rising scientists are still uncertain about
where this deadly virus came from. In the first place, it's believed that it jumped from animals to humans so far pangolins and bats that were sold at the wet
market in Wuhan. The virus doesn't stay with humans, there are signs that it's
also spreading to other animals. A Tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has
tested positive for COVID-19 of developing a dry cough. A couple of lions also
show signs of the infection and there are reports in Hong Kong that dogs have
tested positive without having any of the usual symptoms. Scientists say that
cats are very susceptible to the virus. Many people around the world and I worried
about what that means for them and their pets and farmers also wanted to know
how dangerous the virus could be to their livestock pigs, chicken and ducks at
least are not likely to get infected. What about the rest? What role do animals
play in the coronavirus pandemic? Which species can get infected? Which is
immune? And what’s this mean for our interaction with pets and farm animals? Is
that cats can get infected experimentally and by exposure, we know very little
about transmission because all the instances that we've seen so far they
clearly hint to infection of the pets by their owners. This is bias, ask for no
virus to infected owners so the owner is more dangerous for the pet and vice
versa.
So let’s answer
some questions that people ask
after these incidences.
Q) Many ask…. What does this mean for the interaction with our pets
I mean we hear terrible stories about some owners already putting their pets
down?
A)
There is no reason for doing that at all, I mean, of course, I would stay away
from my pet, if I am sick myself and this is particularly true if I'm sick with
SARS coronavirus. So I should really take caution in that aspect, but on the other hand, it's still very clear that this is a so-called Anthropos of analysis, which means that humans are the ones they infect the animals and not in this
particular case.
Q) The other way around so what does this mean for livestock I mean
we already heard that the pics are probably not susceptible to the virus, but what
about cows and how would a farmer know that his cow for example is infected?
A)
We have experimental evidence that pigs, chicken, and ducks are indeed not
susceptible to infection. We have no experimental evidence of any other of the livestock and food-producing animals, but scientists all over the world are
actually testing these animals as we speak and we hope that we have more
information on that in a couple of days.
Q) So not knowing everything yet also worries people, of course
certainly consumers is there, any advice you have for consumers, for example, when it comes to milk at the moment we have no indication that any food really
presents a risk for contamination or for transmission of the infection?
A)
Scientist says that pigs are not susceptible, chicken and ducks are not
susceptible and from what we can deduce from the previous SARS coronavirus from
2002 and 2003. I would be very surprised to see that cattle are indeed in
infected. But this is under experimental examination at the time. As we speak
of course we're still all trying to learn more about this new coronavirus.
The
global wildlife trade plays a major role; take bats in some parts of Africa and
Asia they're considered a delicacy, but there is also a source of viruses between them the coronavirus. One study found that a coronavirus found in bats shared
96% of its genetic material with the virus behind the current pandemic known as
SARS CoV-2. But this particular bat virus is unlikely to have infected human cells
directly. What is more likely is that the virus jumped to humans via another
animal. One prime candidate is the pangolins. The coronavirus found in pangolins has similar surface proteins of the virus currently infecting humans. But other
animals are also potential transmitters. To search for the source of this pandemic
is still in full swing.
People
still, ask---
Q) What is the significance of bats carrying so many viruses and how
does this knowledge help us deal with a current outbreak?
A)
So apparently bats are a very good reservoir for different kinds of viruses not
only coronaviruses. We actually don't know why this is the case, perhaps they can
control the virus better than other species. They might have a special immune system
that is able to control the viruses, but so far it's unclear what the basis of
this reservoir function really is? But what we can state is that there are
frequent events that viruses actually jump towards humans from the bed reservoir.
Of course, Scientists globally all are trying to find a solution to this crisis.
Q) Why ferrets are a good
model for humans? Why is that I mean ferrets are animals that is being used as
a model for human respiratory infections for quite some time and apparently
they are also susceptible to infection by disaster?
A)
They get affected they propagate the virus, they excrete the virus and they also
are able to transmit to others in Contact ferrets. So what Scientist actually uses them for is to see the influence or for example, vaccination education
towards the reduction of virus replication or virus excretion or transmission.
Q) All right and of course, SARS coronavirus - is not the first virus
to jump from animal to humans how can we prevent this from happening in the
future?
A)
Currently we don't think completely about how to prevent this jump from the
animal to humans. I mean we have increasing contact with animals than the human.
Population is increasing we are entering habitats that usually were prohibited
before and any health organization and we have globalization. I mean what we
could do is to put more emphasis on discovering these spillover events and then
try to control and contain them as early as possible to avoid such situations.
Q) Is it safe to dry your hands with a hot air hand dryer after
washing them?
A)
Like me initially, you probably think of a hot air hand dryer that would be a good
way to draw your hands during a pandemic. After all, you aren't touching anything that could be borne germs, and the air coming out is heated up so maybe that'll
damage viruses that produce at body temperature. It sounds like it makes sense but thinks again. A study scientist found that was published a couple of years
ago by US researchers showed that the air flowing out of a hand dryer in a
public restroom increased the circulation of microbes dramatically compared to ambient Uncirculated air in the same room. If you stop and think about that it makes
sense. After all, where did the air blasting out of the hand dryer come from it
was sucked out of ambient surrounding air filled with aerosolized droplets and it's
a public bathroom. So where are those droplets coming from hmm! There's still a
lot of debate about this and I really can't claim to be an expert on the topic, but I certainly don't want to go anywhere near a public restroom equipped with
hot air hand dryers at the moment
Q) What do we know about hydroxychloroquine?
A)
In COVID-19 hydroxychloroquine is a drug used to prevent and treat malaria, that's currently also in testing for effectiveness against COVID-19. Now there are
anecdotal accounts of patients who took it and showed improvement. But just because
it has an effect than the lab doesn't mean that'll help in real clinical
practice. A big reason there's a lot of hope surrounding the medication is that
it's been proven safe to use fora very long time. The US government in particular
is betting big on it they've given at what's called emergency use authorization
which means it can be given to patients that have run out of other therapeutic
options. Drugmakers share already ramping up production but real evidence that
it can help either cure or prevent COVID-19 is still very thin on the ground. We
don't know things like for example whether if it's taken in combination with
other medications. It could potentially do more harm than good.
Q)
So there are still a lot of question marks does drinking alcohol protect me from
getting infected with a coronavirus?
A)
No this has been one of those persistent myths, since the beginning of the COVID-19
pandemic and it probably comes from the idea that some cleaning and sanitizing
products based on highly concentrated alcohol upwards of 60% are used to
disinfect surfaces or your hands. The virus to invades your respiratory
system trying to somehow coat your respiratory tract or lungs. With 60%
alcohol as though they were a computer keyboard or a door handle is a very fast
way to kill yourself. The WHO warns that consuming alcohol doesn't protect you
from the virus and that excessive consumption is also linked to a whole range
of other health issues.
A reminder:
There is no need to
have your pet put down because of the pandemic also don't abandon your pet as
has happened in many parts of the world. Already animal rescue teams from
Lebanon to Bolivia is picking up cats and dogs apparently abandoned by their
owners who fear their furry family members could get infected and pass on the
virus.
Know more about COVID-19 at-
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