The study confirms the first cases of transmission of Covid-19 from hamsters to humans in the world

The text indicates that rodents were injured Around November 21 last year, about a month before they arrived in that special administrative region of the Asian country. On January 16, it was discovered that an employee of the Little Boss pet store had the delta variant and that the hamsters of the establishment and its warehouses were carriers of the coronavirus.

What is known?

As a result, the Hong Kong authorities slaughtered about 2,000 hamsters imported into the territory after December 22, mostly from the Netherlands, which caused the anger of part of the population.

The researchers note that there have been two separate types of transfers from these rodents to humans involving the delta variant. “the hamster import And they were the most likely source of infection with the virus.”

They also ensure that both infections caused subsequent person-to-person transmissions, with at least a dozen cases of COVID-19 recorded for this outbreak.

Scientists took nasal swabs and blood samples from animals in the store and warehouse and performed a complete genome sequencing analysis, finding that 15 Syrian hamsters tested positive for the disease.

However, none of the 77 dwarf hamsters, 246 rabbits, 66 guinea pigs, 116 chinchillas and mice examined by the same team of scientists from the University of Hong Kong were infected with the COVID-19 virus.

The text continues: “Domestic hamsters can be infected naturally in real-life conditions.” It concludes, “The virus can spread between hamsters and cause infections in humans.”

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