Evidence for Sars-Cov-2 Circulating Among Stray Dogs and Cats: Should We Worry About Our Pets During the Covid-19 Pandemic? Publisher



Farnia P¹ ; Aghajani J¹ ; Farnia P¹ ; Ayoubi S¹ ; Ghanavi J¹ ; Nadji S³ ; Hoffner S⁴ ; Velayati A¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Journal Published:2020

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the COVID-19 infectious disease. Despite the high level of quarantine control in many well-developed countries, the disease has spread to more than 113 countries all over the world, creating a global pandemic. This emerging situation raises many questions. Can the infection be just through human-to-human transmission or are other sources, for example, animal to human or other environmental sources, also involved? We reviewed the previous literature and assessed the potential risk of transmitting the coronavirus from pets to humans. The pets (dogs and cats), especially dogs, have a habit of licking themselves in the buttocks, or smelling others in the buttocks. In such a way, they may get the virus into their respiratory or digestive tract. In return, once they lick people in the face, they may transmit the diseases. In this study, we not only reviewed the literature on pets and their relationship to the coronavirus but we also tested 22 stray dogs and cats, collected from nearby areas that were used for hospitalization of COVID-19 patients. Although no direct connection was found between these pets and the hospital, we found that 14 (63.6%) out of the 22 pets were positive for COVID-19 with the molecular test. Among them, seven (31.8%) had coughing and sneezing symptoms. The studied cases were stray pets, but the question that remains to be clarified is whether home pets are engaged in a chain of transmission or not? This needs further investigation. © 2020 Medknow.