A few days ago, a patient in the USA, was diagnosed with a COVID-19 infection. Due to the quarantine, no one at home is taking care of the pet dog. So she turned the dog over to the US Animal Protection Service.
The site is responsible for monitoring animal welfare and controlling animal and plant infectious diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease, bird flu and other animal diseases.
The staff suddenly wondered if the dog also carried the new coronavirus-19. Therefore, the staff took swabs (secretions and feces) samples from the dog’s mouth, nose and anus for the new coronavirus nucleic acid test.
The new test results were unexpected: the oral and nasal swabs of the new coronavirus-19 were weakly positive in the swab test, and the anal swab test was negative.
However, the symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever and cough, look very lively and healthy.
The transmission of COVID-19 to pets has been the focus of discussion in the scientific community.
Currently, the Society’s Animal Residence has only tested this dog. Not sure if other animals have the same problem.
Subsequently, staff stepped up protective measures for the animal shelter and disinfected its facilities, walls and floors. Out of an abundance of caution, staff also isolate the dogs and observe them closely.
The person in charge of the animal protection station said that the dogs will be re-examined after that.
Although the pet dog had no symptoms of Covid-19 infection, the discovery of suspicious evidence of Covid-19 infection for the first time really took the world by surprise.
The swab test for COVID-19 was weakly positive, with both false positives and positives.
If the dog’s new coronary pneumonia swab test is finally positive, there are two possibilities: one possibility is that the dog is also infected with new coronary pneumonia; the other possibility is that the dog brought the virus into the mouth or Nasal, i.e. mechanical carry.
A dog’s mouth, nose and ground compared to a human. Surfaces with closer contact and smell habits are more likely to inhale some pathogens, including COVID-19 that may be present in the environment.
It is worth noting that the current medical institutions pay more attention to the diagnosis and treatment of infected patients; the CDC pays more attention to the source of the new coronavirus-19 infection and adopts various prevention and control measures. Few institutions test animals that are closely related to people, such as pet dogs, domestic cats, livestock, and even domesticated birds.
Whether these closely related animals carry the new coronavirus disease as a vector of infection or transmission; or whether dogs can be infected with the new coronavirus is unclear.
Dogs themselves can also be infected with coronaviruses, but the common coronaviruses that dogs contract cannot infect humans;
why?
The cat is being made a swab test
Generally speaking, a virus needs to enter an animal or human cell in order to infect, replicate, and cause disease.
First, the virus must recognize receptors on the surface of the cell it wants to invade.
For example, SARS-CoV-2 needs to bind to a receptor called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) to infect humans and cause disease, which is the equivalent of a key to a lock.
The virus then binds to a receptor expressed by the cell, the virus integrates into the cell, and infects the cell.
The ultimate determinant is its genetic material and genes (the material basis is DNA).
Obviously, the DNA of animals and humans is different, and the proteins expressed on the cell membrane are also different. Sometimes it looks the same. As long as
several amino acids are related, the profile of the protein is different and the virus cannot bind to it.
However, this is not absolute, as the virus is constantly mutating and adapting to the environment.
If the new coronary pneumonia can be directly transmitted across species, it can indicate that this virus infection is a zoonotic disease, which is obviously very bad.
A warm reminder from Dr Lee:
We found weak nucleic acid positive for New Coronavirus disease in pet dogs.
This message tells us:
1. In addition to guarding against infection by infected persons, it is also necessary to avoid close contact with active animals, including pets living together for a long time;
2. If you accidentally touch these animals, you must wash your hands afterwards;
3. Wear a mask and do a good job of protection before touching animals as a last resort;
4. During the epidemic, we suggest taking good care of pets and do not take pets for a walk outdoors.