Tiger in American zoo tests positive for COVID-19

As the coronavirus scare grows with infections increasing by the minute, a female Malayan tiger has tested positive for the virus, which is keeping the world quarantined.

The BBC reported that a four-year-old female tiger, named Nadia, at the Bronx Zoo is the first case of an animal in the United States to have tested positive for the disease.

The Bronx Zoo, in New York City, said the test result was confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa.

Nadia, along with six other big cats, is thought to have been infected by an asymptomatic zookeeper.

The cats started showing symptoms, including a dry cough, late March, after exposure to the employee who has not been identified.

“This is the first time that any of us know of anywhere in the world that a person infected the animal and the animal got sick,” Paul Calle, the chief veterinarian at the zoo, told Reuters news agency on Sunday.

There have been isolated instances of pets testing positive for the coronavirus elsewhere in the world, but experts have stressed there was no evidence that they can become sick or spread the disease.

Mr Calle said he intends to share the findings with other zoos and institutions researching the transmission of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, a statement from the zoo said, “We tested the cat [Nadia] out of an abundance of caution and will ensure any knowledge we gain about coronavirus will contribute to the world’s continuing understanding of this novel coronavirus.”

Nadia, her sister Azul, as well as two Amur tigers and three African lions who showed symptoms, are all expected to make a full recovery, the zoo said.

The big cats did have some decrease in appetite but “are otherwise doing well under veterinary care and are bright, alert, and interactive with their keepers,” it added.

The zoo said it was not known how the virus would develop in animals, like tigers and lions, since various species could react differently to new infections, but all the animals will be closely monitored.

None of the zoo’s other big cats–four other tigers, snow leopards, cheetahs, a clouded leopard, an Amur leopard, a puma and a serval is showing any signs of illness.

“Our cats were infected by a person caring for them who was asymptomatically infected with the virus or before that person developed symptoms,” it argued.

All the tigers showing symptoms were housed in the zoo’s Tiger Mountain area. It is unclear if others will be tested.

All four zoos run by the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City, including the Bronx Zoo, have been closed to the public since 16 March.

The authority is expected to put in place new measures that will protect the animals and their caretakers at all the facilities.

Also, there have been several reports providing evidence of infection in household pets.

A 17-year-old dog in Hong Kong repeatedly tested “weakly positive” for coronavirus in March and later died.

A cat in Belgium also tested positive for the disease on March 24.

A study by researchers at the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute in China, on March 30 examined the susceptibility of a number of species to COVID-19, including cats and dogs, using a small number of animals.

The results demonstrated that cats can be infected with the coronavirus and may be able to spread it to other cats via respiratory droplets.

The team placed infected animals in cages next to three animals without the disease and found, in one case, the virus had spread from cat to cat.

According to the researchers, dogs appear to be more resistant. Five to three-month-old beagles were inoculated with covid-19 via the nasal passage and housed with two dogs not given the virus.

After a week, the virus was not detected in any dogs, but two had generated an immune response. The two dogs did not receive the virus.

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