Researchers performed whole-genome sequencing of a house cat infected with coronavirus last year. The sequence, the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, was nearly identical to those circulating in humans at the time.

Since being identified in people in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has gone on to infect a wide range of animal species, wild and domestic. Concerns abound that these species jumps could lead to novel mutations and even harmful new variants.

Writing in the journal Viruses, the scientists identified a domestic house cat, treated at Penn Vet’s Ryan Hospital, that was infected with the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 subsequent to an exposure from its owner. The full genome sequence of the virus was a close match to viral sequences circulating in people in the Philadelphia region at the time.

Release date: 01 March 2022
Source: University of Pennsylvania

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