From:
sukie crandall
Date: 2003-10-29 20:12:45 UTC
Subject: SARS and cats and ferrets
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-id: <42797038-0A4C-11D8-914A-000A95CD182C@optonline.net>
Be SURE to note that there are a NUMBER of reasons to not over-react to
this news. The first is that there are still some questions if the
disease actually was transmitted among the animals and because it is
not known if they can transmit it to humans. Humans remain the most
serious and likely vector on the list for humans becoming infected.
Animals should be protected from a lot of human contacts if SARS makes
the rounds again to protect the ferrets -- same way you would with
influenza.
My friend, Rebecca, found the actual article because she's better at
searching than I am:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/29/sars.pets.ap/index.html
>"You might want to quarantine the pets as well as the people...
>Other scientists who have studied SARS say pet owners shouldn't
overreact, >however...
>"These animals in all likelihood did not play a significant role in
spread of (SARS) to >humans," said Dr. Klaus Stohr, the World Health
Organization's chief SARS scientist...
>Besides, said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, the former head of the U.S. Centers
for Disease >Control and Prevention, "we still don't know if they can
pass the virus to people."...
>Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, also notes a separate report
that cats were >found infected with the virus in a Hong Kong apartment
complex
See the article for more including the presentations and notice that
there might be a problem with the WAY that the research was done so
there is still some room for doubt.
It is unclear if they have tested dogs, yet, but it looks like they
only tried cats and ferrets so far. Ferrets are more closely related
to dogs than cats. In fact, they are the most recent descendants from
the ancestral dog branch. It might not be any surprise if ferrets,
cats, and dogs can all get it.
It is NOT known if cats or ferrets can transmit the coronavirus to
people.
I don't know if it is even clear, yet, if the humans who first
contracted SARS got it from contact or from eating the infected animals
since it was a live food market.
The primary vector animal in Asia appears to by a type of civet and
civets are descended from the cat branch.
In other words, it would not be any surprise if a number of species
within a very wide range of animals in the Order Carnivora (dogs, cats,
mustelids like ferrets, viverrids like mongooses, bears, raccoons and
procyonid relatives, etc.) might be able to get SARS, but even then it
is not known if they can transmit it.