House Pets Contract, Spread SARS

(AP)  House cats and ferrets can get the SARS virus and spread it to other animals, a study found, raising a disturbing question: Can they give it to people?

"You might want to quarantine the pets as well as the people" in the event of an outbreak, suggested Dr. Robert Shope, an expert on emerging diseases at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "If it's been shown that the virus can transmit from cat to cat, it doesn't take much of a leap of faith that it will transmit to humans."

Other scientists who have studied the sometimes-deadly SARS virus say pet owners should not overreact.

"These animals in all likelihood did not play a significant role" in the spread of SARS to humans, said Dr. Klaus Stohr, the World Health Organization's chief SARS scientist.

And Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "We still don't know if they can pass the virus to people."

Researchers discovered the vulnerability of cats and ferrets to SARS while searching for animals to test potential vaccines.

Their study, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, also notes a separate report that cats were found infected with the virus in a Hong Kong apartment complex where residents contracted SARS last year.

Cats and ferrets are the first pets included on an exotic list of animals scientists think may be able to harbor the virus.

"Cats and ferrets are only distantly related," said study co-author Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. "So this demonstrates the promiscuous nature of the virus."

The origin of the virus that killed 774 people remains unknown. Scientists believe people may have gotten the virus from animals that were infected by another, still-mysterious source.

In China, where SARS festered for months before it grew into a worldwide menace this year, exotic raccoon-dogs, ferret badgers and civets have been found harboring a germ that is almost identical to the SARS virus.

The exotic animals were taken off the market for several months, but are being sold again in some places, said Dr. Henk Bekedam, the WHO's representative in Beijing.

Because of the possibility that animals can spread the respiratory virus, WHO has suggested that animals in China and elsewhere be tested for SARS and other diseases before they are eaten.

A SARS infection can cause flu-like symptoms, including a high fever, head and body aches, congestion and breathing trouble. About 8,100 people are thought to have been sickened by the virus between November 2002 and July.

For the Nature study, researchers deliberately infected six cats and six ferrets with the virus cultured from a person who died of SARS. Drops containing the virus were put in the animals' tracheas, eyes and noses.

The cats and ferrets began to show their infection two days later in excretions from the throat, and they produced antibodies within 28 days. When the animals were later put to death, the virus also was found in their respiratory tract.

The cats developed a mild case of pneumonia. The ferrets became lethargic, and one of them died four days after it was given the virus.

Scientists also placed two healthy cats and two healthy ferrets with the infected animals. The healthy ferrets showed signs of SARS infection after two days. The ferrets became emaciated and died about two weeks later, though Osterhaus said it is unclear whether this was due to the virus.

Stohr and Koplan both questioned the results of the study. Koplan, for example, said too few animals were used to reach a firm conclusion about how cats and ferrets become infected.


By Chris Kahn