People with COVID often infect their pets

Dogs and cats living in households with people infected with COVID are often infected and ill. Experts advise infected individuals to stay away from animals if possible.

According to new research, people who become infected with the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) often infect their pets with the pathogen. According to the results of two separate studies this year, animals can become ill and sometimes severe due to infection. European Parliament on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.. The treatise has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

A team led by a veterinarian Dorothy Bientsul Researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario investigated potential COVID infections in 198 cats and 54 dogs. All dogs and 48 cats came from households where at least one had a COVID, and the rest came from animal shelters or contraceptive surgery clinics. The team found that two in three cats and two in five dogs whose owners had COVID had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. However, in the shelter group, less than 1 in 10 cats had these antibodies. And at the contraceptive castration clinic, that number was less than 1 in 38.

Dogs and cats from households whose owners are infected with COVID also often develop symptoms of the disease, Bienzle and her team report. Twenty to thirty percent of animals experienced loss of energy and appetite, cough, diarrhea, runny nose, and respiratory problems. Complications were predominantly mild and short-term, but severe in 3 cases. In addition to antibody testing, researchers conducted a behavioral study that found that cats hugged by their owners were at higher risk of infection. This hugging correlation was not observed in dogs.

Veterinarian Broence Utrecht University in the Netherlands and her colleagues conducted a similar study on 156 dogs and 154 cats in approximately 200 households with human COVID patients. Researchers have found that one in five animals in these households is infected with the virus. The results were identified by a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or antibody test. Symptoms of the disease, especially respiratory and gastrointestinal complications, also occurred in the animals, but most were mild.

Both the Bienzle and Broens groups conclude that humans often infect pets with SARS-CoV-2. “This isn’t surprising at all,” he says. Sarah HammerA veterinary epidemiologist at Texas A & M University, he is conducting a similar study on COVID-positive pets in the United States. As research progresses, it has become clear in the international veterinary field that it is common for pet owners to infect their furry friends with the virus. I was originally thinking. “The findings are consistent. It’s not too difficult for these animals to get infected,” says Hamer. She explains that the results make sense given the close relationship between humans and pets. “We often snuggle up and sleep in the same bed as them,” says Hummer.

The role of pets and livestock in the COVID pandemic has been debated for some time.In some studies pigs, cows, ducks and chickens Seems to be generally resistant to viruses.. According to Hummer, cats are more infected than dogs and often infect fellow cats with the pathogen. Beyond the pathogens that pose a risk to the health of our pets, researchers are worried that they will multiply in animals, perhaps mutate, and at some point return to humans. “The main concern is … the potential risk that pets can act as a reservoir of the virus and reintroduce it into the human population,” Broens says. Mink is displayed SARS-CoV-2 has been retransmitted to humans and some countries have taken drastic steps to prevent the spread of pathogens to mink farms. Denmark and the Netherlands have culled mink resources and killed a total of about 20 million furry animals to prevent further spread of the virus.

So far, there is no evidence of such retransmissions from dogs and cats to humans, Broens says. However, Hummer notes that the current study is not set up simply to answer that exact question. Meanwhile, researchers recommend paying attention to pet owners. “If you have a COVID-19, my advice is to keep your pets away from you and keep them out of your bedroom,” says Bienzul. Hummer reiterates that the recommendations are the same as for other people in your family: if you are infected, stay as far away as possible.

This article was originally Science spectrum Reproduced with permission with additional reporting by Tess Joosse.