- Dear Jeff and Patty,
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- Information on palm civet cat is here: http://www.mns.org.my/article.php?sid=283
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- "Its feces are used in coffee made in Indonesia(What
really happens is that the civet eats only the ripe coffee berries, and
as the coffee bean itself is not digested, it is passed out. These are
then collected, cleaned and dried...it is also supposed to be of high quality
because the civet only selects ripe berries to consume)."
-
- Note that coronavirus is shed in feces. If the palm civet
is the source of SARS, then why has it not been widely spread in Indonesia
consonant with the use of civet feces in making coffee there?
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- Whilst enjoying your morning coffee, read this... hopefully
it is Columbian coffee and not Indonesian coffee...
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- If SARS is a civet cat disease that spread to humans
(in some, as yet, unlikely manner) then this may be another vector:
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- More info on civet cat here: http://www.baobabfarm.com/index_data_en/Science/civetcat.htm
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- Order/family/genus/species of civet cats here: http://1kai.dokkyomed.ac.jp/mammal/en/order/carnivora.html
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- Diet of civet cat here: http://www.lioncrusher.com/animal.asp?animal=109
Diet includes "It will also eat birds, rodents and insects as well
as fruit." Also note "Its feces are used in coffee made in Indonesia."
-
- Feline coronaviruses are shed in feces... and they make
coffee with this civet feces???
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- Birds and rodents have coronaviruses.
-
- Phylogeny says the closest known relative to SARS E2-spike
protein is an avian coronavirus but the ORF1a gene of SARS is almost exactly
like murine hepatitis virus. I am skeptical of the civet cat as the orignal
source of infection as cat coronaviruses will not naturally infect humans.
The "toddy cat" (palm civet cat) is not a true cat but is in
the order of carnivores which also includes dogs, bears, mongoose, "true"
cats, and sea lions and seals. When the complete civet cat coronavirus
is published, you can be sure that I will access it and compare it to SARS
coronavirus.
-
- Interesting articles on PubMed:
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- Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract 1993 Jan;23(1):1-16
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- Coronavirus infection in cats.
-
- Hoskins JD.
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- Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Louisiana
State University School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Route.
-
- Cats are susceptible to natural infection with several
strains of feline coronavirus that may result in either effusive and noneffusive
FIP disease or in subclinical to severe enteritis. Investigators are still
unsure of the routes by which strains of coronavirus are transmitted between
cats. Excretion of coronavirus by infected cats into the environment occurs
by way of feces, oronasal secretions, and, possibly, urine. FIP coronavirus
remains stable outside the host for as long as 3 to 7 weeks and is rapidly
inactivated by most household disinfectants. Clinical diagnosis of coronavirus
infection is made by evaluating the presenting history, physical findings,
laboratory results, coronavirus antibody titers, and by excluding analogous
disease. The presence of coronavirus antibodies can be used to screen cats
for the presence of coronavirus infection and as an adjunct in diagnosing
clinical coronavirus infection. A intranasal TS-FIPV vaccine that protects
against natural coronavirus challenge is available for healthy cats 16
weeks of age or older.
-
- Publication Types: a.. Review b.. Review, Tutorial
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- PMID: 8380655
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- Vet Microbiol 1995 Feb;43(2-3):103-22
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- There is nothing permanent except change. The emergence
of new virus diseases.
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- Truyen U, Parrish CR, Harder TC, Kaaden OR.
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- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Infectious and Epidemic
Diseases, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
-
- The sudden appearance of apparently new viruses with
pathogenic potential is of fundamental importance in medical microbiology
and a constant threat to humans and animals. The emergence of a "new"
pathogen is not an isolated event, as for instance the frequent appearance
of new influenza virus strains demonstrates. Often the new virus strains
co-circulate with the older strains in a susceptible population, but a
replacement of the older strains has been also observed. In rare instances
the new viruses can cause dramatic epidemics or pandemics, such as those
observed with the human immunodeficiency virus, canine parvovirus, or most
recently, with the agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United
Kingdom. The mechanisms of the emergence are not always clearly understood,
but an altered host range appears to be a common event. Whether a true
change in host range occurs, or whether the virus adapted to the host and
replicated more efficiently, is often unknown. This review tries to summarize
the facts that are known about a wide variety of "new" viruses
of mammals, such as the simian, human and feline lentiviruses, the feline
coronaviruses, the feline parvoviruses, the carnivore morbilliviruses,
the influenza A viruses, and the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
A particular emphasis will be put on the genetic mechanisms that might
have taken place and that might have been responsible for their sudden
appearance.
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- Publication Types: a.. Review b.. Review, Tutorial
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- PMID: 7740750
-
-
-
- Comment
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- Civet Cat Is Not A Feline
From Susan Mullen
s_mullen@spu.edu
5-28-3
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- I read the "SARS A Lab Virus?" post, and found
several times the writer referred to the civet cat as a cat or feline.
The civet cat, as shown by the definition below, is not a feline. As
mentioned in the post, FIP is a very serious disease for cats. But any
reference to felines just does not apply to civet cats.
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- Of the family Viverridae, the civet cat is a primarily
nocturnal animal closely related to the mongoose. There are several species.
Some are carnivores that live on the ground, while the animals with SARS
in China are masked palm civets, which live in trees and eat fruit.
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