Here’s the latest news from the pandemic.
Can pets carry Covid-19?
In this week's edition of the Covid Q&A, we look at animals and Covid. In hopes of making this very confusing time just a little less so, each week Bloomberg Prognosis is picking one question sent in by readers and putting it to experts in the field. This week's question comes to us from Canute in Tanzania. Canute asks:
Are domesticated animals capable of carrying Covid-19? And if so, can they spread it?
Viruses can jump from animals to people and people to animals. In fact, the dominant working theory on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is that it originally came from a bat. But so-called spillover—when a virus jumps from one species to another—requires several variables to line up. The virus in one species has to mutate just right so that it can effectively invade the cells of a different species. And then the viral host with that particular mutated virus must cross paths with the new species. A virus jumping to another species requires everything to line up perfectly.
So far, what we know indicates that domesticated animals are unlikely to spread the coronavirus to humans.
“It appears that pets catch the virus from their owners rather than the other way around,” says Jessica Justman, a Columbia University epidemiologist.
Dogs and cats are capable of getting sick from Covid, Justman says, mostly after close contact with infected people. In the Netherlands, for example, researchers tested 310 pets from 196 households where a human infection had been detected in the six months prior. A small percentage of the pets (about 4%) had evidence of active infection based on nasal swabs and close to one-fifth had antibodies, indicating a previous infection.
In a smaller study from Canada, about half of the 102 pets from 77 households with a Covid case in the prior nine months had antibodies compared with only 9% of animals from kennels and shelters and 3% of stray cats.
”This means If someone in your home has Covid-19, they should isolate from everyone, including pets,” says Justman.
Additionally, there is evidence that Covid can infect pumas, gorillas and snow leopards in zoos, as well as ferrets and farm minks. So far, Justman says, the virus hasn’t been reported at chicken or pig farms, but more research is needed to understand if those animals are susceptible.
“Certainly animals can spread infections to humans and when that happens, we call it a zoonotic infection,” says Justman. “While there is uncertainty about whether and which animals might have been the initial source of SARS-CoV-2, person-to-person spread continues to be the major route of spread.”
Thanks to all of you for writing in this week! Next Sunday, we'll be answering the best question we receive again. So if you have any, we want to hear from you. Write to us at CovidQs@bloomberg.net—Kristen V. Brown
Tracking the vaccines
The U.K. has become the first country in the world to approve an antiviral pill by Merck that has been touted as a potential game changer in the fight against Covid. Jason Gale reports everything you need to know about the pills being developed by drug companies. Read the story here.
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