Scientists fear that a fatal new strain of Covid-19 brought to Britain via a cat from Cyprus could cause a primary outbreak after it reportedly killed some 8,000 big cats on the Mediterranean island.
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A new hybrid strain of killer feline coronavirus is set to spread across the UK after a cat that arrived in the UK from Cyprus discovered it was infected.
Scientists now fear it could temporarily spread to British pets after the fatal virus was found to be to blame for the deaths of 8,000 cats on the Mediterranean island. The carrier cat, which developed symptoms after testing positive, undergoes additional testing and treatment after being isolated. through its owner.
Although this strain is not related to Covid-19, scientists discovered in this cat the same “genetic fingerprint” of an existing feline coronavirus and a canine coronavirus, called F-CoV-23, which was also discovered in the 91 infected cats in Cyprus. It is estimated that the virus killed at least 8,000 cats in the first part of this year on the island, but that number may reach 300,000.
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In August, the Cypriot government approved human-targeted Covid remedies for felines in an attempt to take control of the outbreak. Many cats on the eastern Mediterranean island, known as the “Island of Cats” because it was one of the first sites of their domestication, are stray cats and are not uncommon for them to roam cities, in people’s gardens, in restaurants, and in digs near trash cans.
According to the Daily Mail, vets, volunteers, and veterinarians have been working hard to treat animals showing symptoms, while domestic cats have been quarantined in clinics to control and slow the spread of the virus.
The open-access website bioRxiv has published a study on the British cat and warned that there is a risk of the feline covid outbreak spreading. The disease caused by the coronavirus, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), is not unusual internationally but is not believed to be a fear of the arrival of this new strain.
About one in ten felines would expand FIP and symptoms such as fever, lethargy and inflammation due to the coronavirus sleeping in cats. However, without treatment, it is almost fatal.
Now, the combination of canine coronavirus and the feline strain has caused changes in the disease, making it more contagious. Author of the study published on bioRxiv, Dr Christine Tait-Burkard, told The Telegraph: “This new virus appears to spread smoothly and is no longer dependent on adjustments or mutations in the host.
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