Pangolins, cats and COVID-19

This 2012 video is about pangolins.

Mammals known as scaly anteaters are natural hosts of coronaviruses, but are not likely the direct source of the recent outbreak in humans, according to a study published May 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Jinping Chen of the Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, and colleagues. As noted by the authors, the large-scale surveillance of coronaviruses in these animals, called pangolins, could improve our understanding of the spectrum of coronaviruses circulating in the wild, and could help prevent and control emerging infectious diseases: here.

In a study published today (May 13, 2020) in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists in the U.S. and Japan report that in the laboratory, cats can readily become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and may be able to pass the virus to other cats: here.

If you think you may have coronavirus, then don’t pet your cat or dog. You may infect them, the Dutch government says.

As China upgrades pangolins to the highest protected status level, an alternative approach to using long-standing forensic methods is helping wildlife crime investigators disrupt poachers and animal traffickers in an effort to bring them to justice: here.