Hamster-to-Human Covid Theory Gains Traction in Hong KongJan 20 2022
By Jinshan Hong
(Bloomberg) --
Hong Kong officials said they were more confident about the possibility that pet hamsters are spreading Covid in the city as newly uncovered infections are genetically distinct from the virus initially found in a pet shop clerk.
A female customer who tested positive after visiting the store has a strain that’s slightly different from the virus found in the 23-year-old index patient, an employee at the Little Boss pet shop, based on four small variations in its genetic code. The customer’s husband, who also tested positive for Covid, has the same strain, health officials said on a Thursday briefing.
It would make sense for the suspected hamsters to be the original source, according to the officials, since they could have carried different strains of virus when they were imported. They could each then pass on a slightly different version to humans, creating multiple transmission chains. Already more than 2,000 of the small pets, including rabbits and chinchillas, were ordered culled.
In addition to the genetic results, more infections emerged in people who had exposure to hamsters and pet shops. A 30-year-old who purchased a hamster at Little Boss tested positive after arriving in a quarantine facility. A customer who visited an I Love Rabbit pet shop in a different part of town tested preliminarily positive, while a hamster cage in yet another I Love Rabbit location also was harboring the virus. I Love Rabbit is part of the same business group as Little Boss.
The pet shop infections were all caused by the delta variant, though some had slight genetic changes. The city confirmed one additional untraceable infection with delta in a 17-year-old male student. The teenager is carrying a different form of the virus than the other delta patients, doesn’t have pets and hasn’t recently visited a pet shop.
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Source:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-20/hamster-to-human-covid-theory-gains-traction-in-hong-kong
