Dr. Salah El-Din Fathy writes for the “Al-Khail” website.
Corona is a large family of viruses that may cause many diseases in humans and animals, including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-COV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-COV) in addition to the emerging corona virus (COV-19), which is a new strain that was discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, which caused the global spreading epidemic at this time.
Coronaviruses are zoonotic and are transmitted between animals and humans, and it has been scientifically proven that the SARS virus was transmitted from a civet cat (a small, nocturnal animal belonging to mammals) to humans, and the MERS virus was transmitted from single-humped camels to humans.
There are many known corona viruses among animals that have not yet infected humans. The source of the possible vector for Covid-19 has not yet been confirmed, and research is still ongoing. Laboratory tests have shown positive results confirming the infection of many animals (cats and dogs) with Covid 19 infection after
In most cases, her contact with infected people.
The results of laboratory experiments also showed that cats, dogs and mosquitoes have the ability to transmit infection to other animals of the same family, and these animals may also transmit infection to humans. Research is still underway to confirm and determine the role of animals in transmitting infection to humans.
Therefore, it is imperative for people exposed to infection to limit contact with animals while applying vital safety requirements and basic hygiene measures when dealing with pets and others, which include washing hands with water and soap or ethyl alcohol after dealing with animals or with their food or supplies as well as avoiding kissing them or the like. that. Also, wearing protective masks and medical gloves are good preventive measures.
With regard to the equine species, no cases of corona viruses have been recorded, and thus until now it has no role in transmission
Infection to humans.
Exclusive on the “Al Khail” site