LAUSR

AN academic who is conducting research into suspected Covid-19 infections in the UK cat population has thanked vets for providing samples during the pandemic. Margaret Hosie, a professor of comparative virology at the MRCUniversity of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), said the work had emphasised the importance of a One Health approach to understand connections between emerging infectious diseases in people and pets. Her retrospective study examined 387 samples submitted for testing from vets who suspected Covid-19 in feline patients between March and July 2020. The project involved staff from Glasgow’s Veterinary Diagnostic Service who selected the samples, and four volunteers from the CVR who prepared the samples and ran the assays for the detection of SARS-CoV2. In August, it was confirmed by the research programme that a pet cat was infected with SARS-CoV2, the virus responsible for Covid-19 (VR, 8/15 August 2020, vol 187, p 86). SARS-CoV2 RNA was detected in an oropharyngeal swab collected from a six-year-old female Siamese cat that displayed rhinitis and conjunctivitis. This RNA was sent to the APHA laboratory which confirmed the finding that the cat tested positive for SARS-CoV2. Funding needed for future Covid-19 research