Study confirms: Humans can infect dogs and cats with the coronavirus

Greifswald - Pets such as dogs and cats can be infected by humans with the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2. This assumption by scientists has now been confirmed by a study conducted by Italian researchers on a relatively large number of animals.

The first dog is said to have been infected with the coronavirus at the end of February. (symbolic image)
The first dog is said to have been infected with the coronavirus at the end of February. (symbolic image)  © dpa/AP/Julio Cortez

The scientists examined 540 dogs and 277 cats in northern Italy, mainly in Lombardy. The animals lived in households with corona patients or in areas particularly affected by corona.

The researchers were able to detect antibodies against the virus in 3.4 percent of the dogs and 3.9 percent of the cats. This indicates a past infection.

The tests for viruses in swabs from the mouth, nose and throat were negative in all animals - virus excretion ends after two weeks. The tests were carried out between March and May 2020. The results of the study were published in advance and have not yet been reviewed by scientific peers.

According to the President of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Greifswald, Thomas Mettenleiter, the results are not surprising. "They confirm what we already know," he said. However, it is good to have a study with such a large number of pets: "It is not so easy to get samples."

The first case was reported in Hong Kong at the end of February, when a dog with the virus was discovered and quarantined.

Just one month later, a cat with severe symptomswas diagnosed in Europe.

Infected people should avoid contact with pets

At the end of March, a cat in Belgium was infected with coronavirus. She suffered from severe symptoms. (symbolic image)
At the end of March, a cat in Belgium was infected with coronavirus. She suffered from severe symptoms. (symbolic image)  © dpa/Julian Stratenschulte

The significantly larger proportion of animals that tested positive came from Covid-19 households. "We assume that the virus is usually transmitted from humans to animals," said Mettenleiter.

Only on a mink farm in the Netherlands was it perhaps the other way around. But even there, the first entry into the farm was made by humans.

The study confirms the FLI's previous assessment that dogs or cats have not yet played a role in the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus.

The decisive factor is transmission from person to person. From the FLI's current perspective, contact between healthy people and pets does not need to be restricted. However, infected people should avoid contact with pets.

According to the FLI, even if pets become infected, this does not automatically mean that the virus can multiply in the animals and is excreted by them, for example in nasal secretions, coughing or faeces.

Can animals die from coronavirus?

According to Mettenleiter, there is no evidence to date that animals die from a corona infection. In the Italian study, too, only live animals were examined.

In the USA, a dog that had recently tested positive died, but also had cancer.

According to the FLI, there is no evidence to date that pigs, chickens and other farm animals can be infected with Sars-CoV-2.

Tests are currently being carried out at the institute with several animal species. According to initial results, ferrets and fruit bats are susceptible to the virus, but chickens and pigs are not. Studies with cattle have only just begun.