By Scott Weese on March 26, 2020
The Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses
Much has been reported about the 17 yr old Pomeranian in Hong Kong that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19. It was positive on a series of PCR tests over a week, and concurrent blood testing was performed to look for antibodies against the virus. The first test was negative, something that wasn’t too surprising but was taken by some to mean the dog wasn’t infected. However, subsequent testing before the dog died (presumably not of COVID-19) shows that dog did indeed produce antibodies against the virus and therefore was definitely infected.
The update from the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Dept also provides some more information about testing they have done to date. They have tested 17 dogs and 8 cats from households with human COVID-19 infections. Two dogs are positive. It’s interesting (and encouraging) that no cats have tested positive so far, since I’ve had more concerns about the susceptibility of cats, but finding positive results in 2 animals from a small number tested means we need to study this more.
This report doesn’t tell us whether dogs and cats are a source of infection, because being infected doesn’t necessarily mean an individual is infectious (able to pass the virus on). It means we need to look more, testing more animals to see how common this is and seeing whether live virus can be recovered from infected animals. We’re trying to do this, but getting into households where there are infected people with pets has been a challenge.
The Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses offers information relating to zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted from animals to people), including aspects of human and pet health, infection prevention and control, and vaccination. It is located at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada.