Covid 19 Affect Pets

Worldwide there have been over 16 million humans infected with covid 19 but only around 15 pets.

Covid 19 affect pets. Confirmed cases of pets infected with sars cov 2 the virus that causes covid 19 are being reported across the u s. You may have heard that coronaviruses can infect animals and wondered whether your pets could get covid 19 or pass the virus to you. Cc0 public domain social distancing applies to pets as well as humans in households with positive cases of covid 19. We ve gathered everything you.

Susan culp texas a m agrilife research and texas a m agrilife extension service veterinarian in the institute for infectious animal diseases. Covid 19 is caused by a strain of coronavirus called sars cov 2. Further evidence for how pets might contract covid 19 comes from a study by researchers at the harbin veterinary research institute in china published in the journal science on april 8. Social distancing applies to pets as well as humans in households with positive cases of covid 19.

Based on the limited information available to date the risk of animals spreading covid 19 to people is considered to be low. Most of those pets showed no signs of illness at all and those that did only developed very mild symptoms. Still pet owners are understandably worried about the health of their companions and how covid 19 might affect them. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses.

At this time there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes covid 19. Pets may be a comfort when we are sick but experts recommend staying away from them if testing positive for covid 19. More studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be affected by covid 19. A small number of pets worldwide including cats and dogs have been reported to be infected with the virus that causes covid 19 mostly after close contact with people with covid 19.

Confirmed cases of pets infected with sars cov 2 the virus that causes covid 19 are being reported across the u s. We do need to talk about our pets said dr. Based on the limited information available to date the risk of animals spreading covid 19 to people is considered to be low.