More cats might be COVID-19 positive than first believed, study suggests

研究表明，COVID-19呈阳性的猫可能要比一开始所预想的多

A newly published study looking at cats in Wuhan, where the first known outbreak of COVID-19 began, shows more cats might be contracting the disease than first believed.

一项新发表的研究通过研究武汉（首次爆发COVID-19的地方）的猫而表明，患COVID-19的猫的数量可能要比一开始所预想的多。

Researchers from Huazhong Agricultural University, in the Chinese city, took blood samples from 102 cats between January and March 2020, following the first outbreak. Nasal and anal swabs were also collected.

在新冠疫情首次爆发后，华中农业大学的研究人员从102只猫身上采集了血样并同时还采集了这些猫的鼻腔及肛拭子。

Reporting their findings in peer-reviewed journal Emerging Microbes & Infections, they show COVID-19 antibodies present in 15 of the blood samples taken from the cats. Of these, 11 cats had neutralizing antibodies -- proteins that bind so successfully to a virus they block the infection.

在同行评审期刊《新兴及微生物感染》所发表的论文中，研究人员表明COVID-19抗体存在于15份猫血样中。在这其中，11只猫拥有中和抗体-一种可以和病毒成功结合并阻止感染的蛋白质。

None of the cats actually tested positive for COVID-19 or displayed obvious symptoms and, according to the results of return visits, none of these felines have died.

根据回访结果，没有一只猫的COVID-19检测结果呈阳性或出现明显的症状，并且没有一只猫死亡。

The sample of cats looked at included 46 abandoned from 3 animal shelters, 41 from 5 pet hospitals, and 15 cats were from COVID-19 patient families.

此次研究的猫样本中，46只猫属于被遗弃的猫，它们来自动物收容所，41只猫来自5家宠物医院，以及15只来自COVID-19患者家庭。

The three cats with the highest levels of antibodies were all owned by patients who had been diagnosed with COVID-19, whilst there were also signs of cats being infected with the virus by other cats from those that were abandoned (4) or based in the pet hospitals (4).

其中三只拥有最高抗体的猫全部为诊断为COVID-19的患者所饲养，但是也有迹象表明猫所感染的病毒来自其他被遗弃的猫（4）或来自于宠物医院的猫（4）。

Commenting on the findings, lead author Meilin Jin states that whilst there is currently no evidence for cat-to-human transmission, precautions should be considered.

根据目前的研究结果，第一作者Meilin Jin表明，尽管目前没有猫传人的证据，但是也应该采取预防措施。

"Although the infection in stray cats could not be fully understood, it is reasonable to speculate that these infections are probably due to the contact with SARS-CoV-2 polluted environment, or COVID-19 patients who fed the cats.

尽管流浪猫感染新冠病毒无法被完全理解，但是有理由推测这些感染很可能是由于猫接触到了SARS-CoV-2污染的环境或喂食猫的COVID-19患者。

"Therefore measures should be considered to maintain a suitable distance between COVID-19 patients and companion animals such as cats and dogs, and hygiene and quarantine measures should also be established for those high-risk animals."

因此，应考虑采取措施使COVID-19患者与动物伴侣，比如猫和狗保持合适的距离，并应对这些高危动物采取卫生和隔离举措。

The team assessed the type of antibody reactions in thorough detail and were able to describe the dynamic characteristics of the antibodies found.

研究团队以非常详尽的方式评估了抗体反应的类型并且能够描述所发现抗体的活性。

Amongst many discoveries within the antibodies, they saw that the type of reaction produced by the cats resembles those observed in seasonal coronavirus infections, implying that the cats who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection "remain at risk of re-infection."

在抗体的许多发现中，研究人员发现由猫所产生的反应类型和那些被观察具有季节性冠状病毒感染的猫相似，这意味着感染 SARS-CoV-2的猫仍然有“再次感染的风险”。

The authors state that this is a similar transient antibody response to also be observed in humans, and that their study should be used going forwards as a "reference for the clinical treatment and prevention of COVID-19."

作者们表明，这是一种类似的瞬态抗体反应，其也在人体中被观察到。此外，作者们还表示，他们的研究应该被用于COVID-19临床治疗和预防的参考。

"We suggest that cats have a great potential as an animal model for assessing the characteristic of antibody against SARS-CoV-2 in humans," they add.

作者们补充表示：“作为一种评估人体内 SARS-CoV-2抗体特性的动物模型，猫具有巨大的潜力。”

From here, the team state that more research is needed to establish the route of Covid-19 from humans to cats.

此外，团队还表明，需要进行更多的研究来确定Covid-19从人到猫的传染路径。

"Retrospective investigation confirmed that all of antibody positive samples were taken after the outbreak, suggesting that the infection of cats could be due to the virus transmission from humans to cats. Certainly, it is still needed to be verified via investigating the SARS-CoV-2 infections before this outbreak in a wide range of sampling," Jin states.

“回顾性调查证实，所有的抗体阳性样本都是在疫情爆发后取样的，这表明猫的感染可能是由于病毒由人传给了猫。可以肯定的是，这一点仍然需要通过在广大的取样范围内在疫情爆发之前通过调查SARS-CoV-2感染而进行证实”，Jin表明。

本文摘自《科学日报》并由质控部Susan进行整理和编辑。