News Releases & Research Results Cats that recovered from new coronavirus infection showed no symptoms, except for persistent inflammatory damage in the lungs, and did not become re-infected for a certain period.

News Releases & Research Results

Outline

The results of the research project conducted by Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the Division of Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo.

The key results of this research project are as follows:

  • Cats infected with new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) acquired adaptive immunity after infection and did not become re-infected for a certain period after recovery.
  • Pathological analysis of the lungs of infected cats revealed persistent inflammatory damage in the lungs despite limited viral replication and a lack of clinical symptoms even at 4 weeks after infection.
  • The results of this research project should facilitate the elucidation of the causes of various sequelae reported in human patients who recovered from new coronavirus infection.

This project was conducted with the support of the Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases by AMED.

The results were published online in the infectious disease journal Emerging Infectious Diseases by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on January 8.

Article

Chiba S., et al. Protective Immunity and Persistent Lung Sequalae in Domestic Cats after SARS-CoV-2 Infection Emerging Infectious Diseases
DOI: 10.3201/eid2702.203884

01/08/21

Last updated 01/08/21