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UK cat contracts COVID-19 from owners
Those who are self-isolating with COVID-19 are being advised to restrict contact with their pets.
Self-isolating owners urged to restrict contact with their pet and practise good hygiene.

The virus responsible for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, has been detected in a pet cat in England for the first time, the UK's chief veterinary officer has confirmed.

A statement issued by Defra today (27 July) said the infection was confirmed following tests at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) laboratory in Weybridge on Wednesday 22 July.

A private vet initially diagnosed the cat with feline herpes virus. However, the sample was also tested for SARS-CoV-2 as part of a research programme.

Follow-up samples tested at the APHA laboratory in Weybridge confirmed the cat was also co-infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus known to cause COVID-19 in humans.

Defra stressed that all available evidence suggests that the cat contracted COVID-19 from its owners who had previously tested positive for the disease. The cat and its owners have since made a full recovery, and there was no transmission to other animals or people in the household.

Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said: “Tests conducted by the Animal and Plant Health Agency have confirmed that the virus responsible for COVID-19 has been detected in a pet cat in England. This is a very rare event with infected animals detected to date only showing mild clinical signs and recovering within in a few days.”

She added: “There is no evidence to suggest that pets directly transmit the virus to humans. We will continue to monitor this situation closely and will update our guidance to pet owners should the situation change.

Responding to the announcement, BVA president Daniella Dos Santos issued advice for animal owners, urging those who are self-isolating with symptoms to restrict contact with their pets and to practise good hygiene.

“While pet owners may be worried by this news, we’d like to emphasise that there continues to be no evidence that infected pets can pass Covid-19 to their owners, “ she said. “There have been a tiny number of cases of Covid-19 in domestic animals worldwide and in all cases, it appears likely that the transmission was from infected humans to animals.

“We have been in touch with vets in Government and the local veterinary practice for information and have been informed that the cat only showed mild clinical signs and has since made a full recovery.”

 

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.