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The curious case of the cat with corona
Saturday, 28 March 2020
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...“Hans Nauwynck is a professor at the faculty of veterinary medicine at the University of Ghent, and a specialist in virology. The news of the corona cat took him by surprise.
“Before sending this news out into the world, I would have had some other tests carried out,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws. “When you hear about this right now, I wouldn’t wish to be a cat tomorrow.”
The discovery was made by the vet faculty at Liege university, who concluded the infection passed from human to cat and not the other way around.
I’m simply questioning the interpretation of the results. The test is positive for corona, fine, but how was the test carried out? How was the sample taken, and can that result be trusted? I would advise people to slow down. There may somehow have been genetic material from the owner in the sample, and so the sample is contaminated.”
To be absolutely certain, he said, more tests should have been done to confirm the initial result, and certainly before making an announcement to the world.
“I think it’s too bad they didn’t look further,” he said. “There should also have been research carried out to see if the cat had produced antibodies. I’m worried that people will be scared by this news and animals will be the ones to suffer, and that’s not right. As scientists we ought to put out clear and full information, and I don’t think that has happened.”
Saturday, 28 March 2020
...
...“Hans Nauwynck is a professor at the faculty of veterinary medicine at the University of Ghent, and a specialist in virology. The news of the corona cat took him by surprise.
“Before sending this news out into the world, I would have had some other tests carried out,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws. “When you hear about this right now, I wouldn’t wish to be a cat tomorrow.”
The discovery was made by the vet faculty at Liege university, who concluded the infection passed from human to cat and not the other way around.
I’m simply questioning the interpretation of the results. The test is positive for corona, fine, but how was the test carried out? How was the sample taken, and can that result be trusted? I would advise people to slow down. There may somehow have been genetic material from the owner in the sample, and so the sample is contaminated.”
To be absolutely certain, he said, more tests should have been done to confirm the initial result, and certainly before making an announcement to the world.
“I think it’s too bad they didn’t look further,” he said. “There should also have been research carried out to see if the cat had produced antibodies. I’m worried that people will be scared by this news and animals will be the ones to suffer, and that’s not right. As scientists we ought to put out clear and full information, and I don’t think that has happened.”
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