Can cows catch coronavirus? German study suggests yes – but no link to beef
- Low susceptibility to Sars-CoV-2, non-peer-reviewed paper says after two cattle test positive
- Infection of cows may be possible through contact with farmers, but no evidence that cattle or beef cause infection in humans, study finds
At the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, also known as Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, researchers inoculated six cattle with Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease Covid-19. Two animals, including a calf, tested positive after nose swabs a couple of days later.
To see whether the human-carried virus had entered and reproduced in the bovine bodies, Professor Martin Beer and colleagues examined their blood samples and detected the presence of antibodies specific to the virus.
“This worldwide-first experimental study on cattle shows a low susceptibility to Sars-CoV-2 … it cannot be ruled out that the pathogen may be able to adapt by mutation,” the institute said in a statement on Wednesday. A non-peer-reviewed paper detailing the study has been posted in bioRxiv.org.
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World’s first coronavirus reinfection case confirmed in Hong Kong, a university study reports
Covid-19 is a human disease, but some animals can contract the coronavirus. Previous studies have confirmed infections in ferrets, hamsters, dogs, cats, mink and felids, but not in mice, chickens, ducks and pigs.