COVID-19 in a dog: Update March 4

By Scott Weese on March 4, 2020

I’ve written a couple times about the dog in Hong Kong that was identified as positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). The initial thought (hope?) was that it was not really an infection but a positive result from contamination from the infected owner. The positive result two days later (Feb 28) suggested it was a true infection. The latest report furthers that suspicion.

The update indicates that another sample taken March 2 was also positive.

That makes it pretty likely that the dog is actually infected, a conclusion apparently supported by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)

.The dog has remained healthy, which is good. Whether that means this virus can’t cause disease in dogs or it just didn’t in this one isn’t known. People can be infected without getting sick, so it’s too early to say one way or the other what this result means in the broader canine picture. It remains quarantined at the Hong Kong Port of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, with a plan to keep it there until it tests negative.

One other dog is under quarantine there, and it was negative on its first test.