一只老虎感染冠状病毒，你应该担心你的宠物吗?

一只老虎感染冠状病毒，你应该担心你的宠物吗?

Nadia is a four-year-old Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo. Last week, she started exhibiting one of the key symptoms of the novel coronavirus: a dry cough.

纳迪亚是布朗克斯动物园的一只四岁的马来亚虎。上周，她开始出现新型冠状病毒的主要症状之一:干咳。

And it wasn't just Nadia — her sister Azul, two Amur tigers, and three African lions were all experiencing the same thing. So the zoo got permission from local and state health departments and animal health authorities, and took a sample from Nadia to be tested for the SARS-CoV-2. The sample was analyzed at the University of Illinois and Cornell University, and the presumptive positive finding confirmed at a U.S. Department of Agriculture lab in Iowa.

不仅仅是纳迪亚，她的姐姐阿苏尔、两只东北虎和三只非洲狮都经历了同样的事情。因此，该动物园获得了当地和州卫生部门以及动物卫生当局的许可，并从纳迪亚身上采集了样本，进行了SARS-CoV-2的检测。该样本在伊利诺伊大学和康奈尔大学进行了分析，并在爱荷华州的美国农业部实验室证实了推定的阳性结果。

That positive makes Nadia the first known infection case of an animal in the U.S., the CDC says.

疾控中心说，这一阳性结果使纳迪亚成为美国已知的首例动物感染病例。

That result raises a number of questions about the virus, and how it could affect the animals we spend time with. We'll tackle those questions here.

这一结果引发了许多关于这种病毒的问题，以及它如何影响我们与之相处的动物。我们将在这里解决这些问题。

How do you test a tiger for coronavirus?

如何为老虎检测冠状病毒?

The test involved an oral swab, a nasal swab, and procedure called a tracheal wash, which allows for sampling of the animal's airways.

这项测试包括一个口腔拭子，一个鼻腔拭子，和一个叫做气管清洗的程序，它允许对动物的呼吸道取样。

Only one of the ill animals was tested because collecting diagnostic samples in big cats requires general anesthesia, according to the USDA, which announced the finding. "Since all tigers and lions were exhibiting similar respiratory symptoms, the attending veterinarian felt it was in the best interest of the animals to limit the potential risks of general anesthesia to one tiger for diagnostics," he said.

美国农业部宣布了这一调查结果，因为在大型猫科动物身上采集诊断样本需要全身麻醉，所以只对其中一只患病动物进行了测试。“由于所有老虎和狮子都表现出类似的呼吸道症状，主治兽医认为，为了动物的最大利益，将全身麻醉的潜在风险限制在一只老虎身上进行诊断，”他说。

How did the tiger get tested when a lot of people still can't?

当很多人还不能被检测的时候，老虎怎么会得到检测呢?

The sample from Nadia was tested at veterinary diagnostic labs that aren't approved to analyze human tests. The testing of the tiger "did not take a test or resources from human health efforts," the zoo said.

纳迪亚的样本是在兽医诊断实验室进行检测的，这些实验室没有被批准用于分析人体检测。动物园表示，对老虎的检测“并没有从人类健康的努力中获取检测或资源。”

Nadia and the other tigers and lions are doing well and improving, the zoo says, though some have a decrease in appetite.

动物园表示，纳迪亚和其他老虎和狮子的情况都很好，而且正在改善，不过有些老虎和狮子的食欲有所下降。

A number of other cat species live at the zoo, including leopards, cheetahs, and pumas; none have showed signs of illness.

动物园里还生活着其他一些猫科动物，包括美洲豹、猎豹和美洲狮;没有人显示出生病的迹象。

Do I need to worry about my cat?

我需要担心我的猫吗?

Tigers are a very different species of cat than domestic cats.

老虎和家养猫是一种非常不同的猫科动物。

"They're even in a different genus," points out Karen Terio, chief of the zoological pathology program at the University of Illinois and an expert on medical issues affecting wild cats.

“它们甚至属于不同的种类，”伊利诺伊大学动物病理学项目负责人、研究野猫医疗问题的专家卡伦·特里奥指出。

With more than a million global coronavirus cases among humans, and the many, many people who have cats as pets, Terio says it's significant that the first clinical case confirmed in the U.S. was a tiger, not a domestic cat.

特里奥说，由于全球人类感染冠状病毒的病例超过100万，而且很多人都把猫当宠物养，所以在美国确诊的第一例临床病例是老虎，而不是家养猫，这很重要。

"It suggests to me that there's probably a lot of differences in how different cat species even respond to the virus," she says. "That unfortunately means there's a whole lot more we don't know about this virus."

“在我看来，不同种类的猫对病毒的反应可能有很多不同，”她说。“不幸的是，这意味着我们对这种病毒还有很多不了解的地方。”

Can I catch the coronavirus from animals?

我能从动物身上感染冠状病毒吗?

There is no evidence so far of the virus being transmitted from animals to people, other than the origin of the virus itself.

到目前为止，除了病毒本身的起源之外，没有证据表明这种病毒是从动物传播给人类的。

Should I get my animal tested for coronavirus?

我应该让我的动物做冠状病毒检测吗?

The USDA and the CDC don't recommend routine testing of animals for the virus. But the USDA says the situation could change, and "public and animal health officials may decide to test certain animals out of an abundance of caution."

美国农业部和疾病预防控制中心不建议对动物进行常规的病毒检测。但美国农业部表示，情况可能会改变，“出于极大的谨慎，公众和动物卫生官员可能会决定对某些动物进行检测。”

If you think your animal has the virus, call your local veterinary clinic.

如果你认为你的动物感染了病毒，打电话给当地的兽医诊所。