MAY 28

MAY 28, 2003
Can Kitty pass Sars virus to you? Not likely

Test results have been inconclusive, but scientists say people are unlikely to get infected unless they touch or eat cat faeces. Science Correspondent CHANG AI-LIEN reports

EVEN if stray cats here are found to be carrying the Sars virus, it is highly unlikely that they could transmit it to humans, unless people are touching or eating cat faeces, said scientists here.

Blood and stool samples have been taken from about 100 stray cats and dogs islandwide to see if they can pick up the virus and pass it on to people.

The Straits Times understands that results so far have been inconclusive, because even if preliminary tests are Sars-positive, the samples could have been contaminated.

Researchers might thus have to employ other strategies, such as checking for antibodies and growing the virus in cell culture, which could take weeks.

One scientist, who did not want to be named, said: 'Even if Sars is found in animals, it doesn't mean that it will be infectious at all.

'It could well be benign.'

The research effort into animals and Sars is being led by Dr Ooi Eng Eong, head of the Environmental Health Institute.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, National Environment Agency and the Genome Institute of Singapore are also involved.

Minister of State for National Development Vivian Balakrishnan, a member of the Sars combat team, said last Saturday that results of the effort were expected within two weeks.

Hong Kong scientists said recently that the Sars virus was likely to have jumped to humans from civet cats, although they were not 100 per cent sure.

However, they said it was unlikely that humans contracted the disease from eating the animals.

Other scientists said that respiratory transmission of diseases from animals to humans was unusual.

If the civet cat is confirmed as the source of Sars, then the virus was probably passed on to people who raised or killed the animal in unsanitary conditions, and later ingested faecal matter accidently.

Some of the first victims of the virus in Guangdong province, where the Sars outbreak started in November, were chefs or people in contact with animals.