铲屎官要注意了，小心你的爱宠！
Coronavirus Can Infect Cats
By W. Wayt Gibbs on April 6, 2020
Tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo have tested positive for the virus, and studies show that house cats—but apparently not dogs—can become infected.
The COVID-19 pandemic has a lot of people stuck at home with their cats—which raises some obvious questions: Can cats catch the new coronavirus from their owners? Can cats spread the disease to each other? And can people get infected by their cats?
Scientists have been so busy studying human-to-human transmission of the virus that few, so far, have looked at how it may be able to spread among cats and the humans they live with. But a few preliminary reports within the past few days suggest that cats can catch COVID-19, probably from humans, and then give it to other cats.
On April 5, the Bronx Zoo announced that four tigers and three lions have developed symptoms of the disease. Scientists at Cornell University and the USDA tested samples from one of the tigers and confirmed that it was infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. And researchers at the University of Illinois looked at the samples and found that the virus in the tiger was genetically indistinguishable from strains seen in humans.
So the tiger must have caught this from a zookeeper—which is a little surprising. I mean, I would think six feet would be a minimum safe distance from a tiger under any circumstance. But perhaps someone coughed on her food.
COVID-19 doesn’t seem to be limited to big cats, either. Two research groups in China recently published studies on house cats in Wuhan and young cats raised in a lab. These preprints have not yet been peer-reviewed, and this is very early science that may well change with further study. That said, their findings are worrisome.
The Wuhan study did blood tests on 102 cats there to see whether any had antibodies to SAR-CoV-2, which would mean that they had been infected with the virus at some point. Fifteen percent of the cats tested positive. Three of those had been living with people who were diagnosed with COVID-19—those three had the most antibodies. The rest of the cats were strays or had been in pet hospitals.
The authors write that “immediate action should be implemented to keep a suitable distance between humans and companion animals such as cats..., and strict hygiene and quarantine measures should also be carried out for these animals.”
In a second study, scientists at a high-containment lab for animal diseases control in Harbin, China, deliberately squirted coronavirus into the noses of cats and other kinds of animals to see whether they became infected. In some good news, they did not see the virus taking hold in dogs, pigs, chickens or ducks. But it did replicate rapidly the respiratory tracts of both cats and ferrets.
Within a few days after infection, all of the cats they inoculated started shedding virus in their feces. The researchers placed an uninfected cat in a cage adjacent to each infected one. One third of those healthy cats then caught the virus from their sick neighbors.
So far, the CDC says, there is no evidence that people can catch COVID-19 from their cats. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. So until it’s clearer whether the virus can leap back from cats to their owners, it would seem smart to keep your cats indoors, to wear gloves and a mask when changing the litter box and to avoid kissing or rubbing noses with your little snookums.
---from Scientific American
重点词汇汇总:
Cats n. 猫；猫科动物
在美国口语里，老虎经常称作是 big cat（大猫）
house cats 家猫
stuck at home 呆在家里
catch the new coronavirus from their owners从他们的主人那里感染新的冠状病毒
preliminary /prɪˈlɪmɪneri/adj. 初步的；n. 初步行动；预赛，预试
the virus in the tiger was genetically indistinguishable from strains seen in humans.老虎身上的病毒与人类身上的病毒在基因上种群上难以区分。
strains /stren/n. [微] 菌株（strain复数）；种族
v. [力] 拉紧；使过度劳累（strain的第三人称单数形式）
zookeeper动物园管理员
These preprints have not yet been peer-reviewed这些预印本还没有经过同行评审
preprints 预印本（preprint的复数形式）；出版前的非正式样本；预刊本
worrisome /ˈwɜːrisəm/adj. 令人担心的，使人发愁的，让人焦虑的
antibodies抗体（antibody的复数）
at some point 某时；在某一时刻
immediate action should be implemented to keep a suitable distance between humans and companion animals应立即采取行动，在人和动物伙伴之间保持适当的距离
implement /'ɪmplɪmɛnt/n. 工具，器具；手段vt. 实施，执行；实现，使生效
carried out实施；贯彻（carry out 的过去式）
strict hygiene严格的卫生/ˈhaɪdʒiːn/n. 卫生；卫生学；保健法
quarantine measures 检疫措施/ˈkwɔːrəntiːn/n. 检疫隔离期；隔离；检疫；检疫区，隔离区v. 对（动物或人）进行检疫隔离
a high-containment lab一个高级别控制实验室
deliberately/dɪˈlɪbərətli/adv. 故意地；谨慎地；慎重地
squirted/skwɜːrt/v. （使）喷射，喷出
replicate /ˈreplɪkeɪt/n. 复制品；vt. 复制；折叠
ferrets /ˈferɪt/n. 雪貂；白鼬
inoculated /ɪnˈɑkjəˌletɪd/adj. 接种过的；注射过预防针的
v. 给…做注射预防针；给…接种（inoculate的过去分词形式）
shedding virus in their feces从它们的粪便中排出病毒
shed vt. 流出；摆脱
feces/ˈfiːsiːz/n. 排泄物，粪便；渣滓
adjacent to邻近的，毗连的
But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence但是证据的缺乏并不是缺乏证据
leap back往回跳
rubbing noses擦鼻子
snookums [s'nuːkəmz] n. 给小孩、爱人或宠物的昵称
百度翻译:
冠状病毒能感染猫
作者：W.Wayt Gibbs，日期：2020年4月6日
图片来源：凯伦·克鲁·盖蒂图片社
布朗克斯动物园的老虎和狮子检测出病毒呈阳性，研究表明家猫但显然不是狗会感染。
COVID-19大流行让很多人和他们的猫呆在家里，这引发了一些明显的问题：猫能从主人那里感染到新的冠状病毒吗？猫能互相传播疾病吗？人们会被猫感染吗？
科学家们一直忙于研究这种病毒在人与人之间的传播，到目前为止，很少有人研究这种病毒是如何在猫和它们生活的人类之间传播的。但在过去几天内的一些初步报告表明，猫可能会从人类身上捕捉到COVID-19，然后把它给其他猫。
4月5日，布朗克斯动物园宣布，4只老虎和3只狮子出现了这种疾病的症状。康奈尔大学和美国农业部的科学家对其中一只老虎的样本进行了检测，证实它感染了SARS-CoV-2病毒。伊利诺伊大学的研究人员对这些样本进行了研究，发现老虎身上的病毒在基因上与人类身上的病毒不可区分。
所以老虎一定是从动物园管理员那里抓到这个的，这有点让人吃惊。我的意思是，我认为在任何情况下，六英尺是离老虎的最小安全距离。但也许有人在她的食物上咳嗽。
COVID-19似乎也不局限于大型猫科动物。中国的两个研究小组最近发表了关于武汉家猫和在实验室饲养的幼猫的研究，这些预印本还没有经过同行评审，这是一门很早的科学，随着进一步的研究可能会发生变化。也就是说，他们的发现令人担忧。
武汉的这项研究对102只猫进行了血液测试，看看是否有抗SAR-CoV-2的抗体，这意味着它们在某个时候感染了这种病毒。15%的猫检测呈阳性。其中三人曾与被诊断为COVID-19的人生活在一起，这三人的抗体最多。其余的猫都是流浪猫或是在宠物医院。
作者写道：“应立即采取行动，保持人类与猫等伴生动物之间的适当距离，并对这些动物采取严格的卫生和检疫措施。”
在第二项研究中，中国哈尔滨一家动物疾病控制高控制实验室的科学家故意将冠状病毒喷射到猫和其他动物的鼻子里，观察它们是否被感染。一些好消息是，他们没有看到病毒在狗、猪、鸡或鸭身上流行。但它确实迅速复制了猫和雪貂的呼吸道。
在感染后的几天内，他们接种的所有猫都开始在粪便中传播病毒。研究人员把一只未受感染的猫放在一个笼子里，每个笼子旁边都有一只受感染的猫。三分之一的健康猫从生病的邻居那里感染了病毒。
疾控中心说，到目前为止，还没有证据表明人们能从猫身上捕捉到COVID-19。但没有证据不是没有证据。所以，在病毒是否能从猫身上跳回到主人身上这一点还没有弄清楚之前，让你的猫呆在室内，在更换垃圾箱时戴上手套和口罩，避免用你的小鼻涕虫亲吻或摩擦鼻子，似乎是明智之举。