Novel Coronavirus and Animals

By Scott Weese on February 5, 2020

I haven’t written much about the new coronavirus here lately. In part, that’s because I’ve spent a lot of my time writing or reviewing documents for various groups on the topic. A common challenge I face with zoonotic diseases is the message. On one hand (or for some groups), I’m trying to raise awareness, to makes sure animal aspects are properly addressed. On the other, I’m trying to make sure people don’t go over the top. It can be a battle getting people to think about animal issues without going over the top, because the line between awareness and paranoia is pretty short.


Another issue is lack of resources, expertise, confidence or willingness to consider options.


What’s the easiest way to eliminate a zoonotic disease concern?
Eliminate the animal.

We’ve seen that lots of times in the past, where fear, lack education or lack of desire lead to euthanasia that’s completely unwarranted.
We’re seeing that again with the coronavirus.


What are we talking about, in terms of increasing awareness?
The big thing is this - we don’t know which animals can be infected. Too often, the default is to say “animals can’t be infected” until it changes to “oops….I guess they can.” Major agencies have said “we have no evidence that domestic animals can be infected.” That’s true. It’s also true that we have no evidence that they can’t. Some of those groups’ messaging has changed over the past few days to at least say that infected people should stay away from animals. That’s a great start.

The prudent approach is to assume animals can be involved in coronavirus transmission until we’re sure they can’t. SARS showed why were concerned about these issues. We know now that cats and ferrets are susceptible to that virus, a relative of the current coronavirus. We also know that an infected cat can infect another cat (same for ferrets). So, it’s reasonable to go on the assumption that cats, dogs, ferrets and/or other animals could be infected.


What does that mean we should do?
Pay attention but not panic. My general line is that we need to treat animals like people. If someone is infected, the response would be to trace that person’s contacts. Typically, that means human contacts. For me, that means anything with a pulse. If someone is infected and their spouse is being quarantined, the same should happen to their pets.


What are we talking about in terms of decreasing paranoia?
Thinking about a potential role of animals is great. Thinking all cats are going to kill us isn’t. There are simple approaches to identify exposed animals and to properly manage them. Household quarantine of pets can be done. Sometimes it’s challenging (esp with dogs) but it’s doable in many households, and a few facilities (like ours) are equipped to handle quarantine. My dog, Merlin, had Ebola virus for the day a few years ago when we were testing our Ebola containment practices. He’s going to have coronavirus Friday as we do a practice run with this virus.


Is there actually a problem?
Probably. We’re getting and seeing lots of reports from China and elsewhere about dogs being killed in large numbers. Finding out why is critical.

Is it because people are afraid they’ll get infected by their dog?
That’s an easy educational piece. If I don’t have coronavirus and my dog stays in the house, he’s not getting exposed. If I keep my dog away from other dogs or people, the only way he’s getting exposed is from me.


Is it because they don’t think they can care for their dog if they can’t leave the house?
That’s another, but different, education piece. We need to educate people about how to manage a dog.

Is it because they can’t get food for their dog, since their movements are restricted?
That leads a need to figure out a support system.

Knowledge vacuums lead to fear. Fear leads to knee jerk decisions, and those often lead to bad decisions. It’s a scary situation in areas where this virus is active and fear-based responses are understandable. However, we can do a better job managing the virus and the fear. In areas where this virus has not yet established itself, it comes down to…

Ensuring animal contacts of human cases are queried.
Ensuring exposed animals are quarantined.
Using good old fashioned infection control, like hand washing.
Keeping the fear at bay and applying logic to the problem side of the house for a couple weeks.

Long post (rant) but that’s a quick summary of what I’ve been dealing with.

I’ll probably post some “Merlin’s day with coronavirus” pictures later this week.