• Question: Could animals get COVID 19?

    Asked by anon-253593 on 13 May 2020. This question was also asked by anon-254812, anon-256417.
    • Photo: Amy Mason

      Amy Mason answered on 13 May 2020:

      I don’t know so I googled. (This is the scientist’s secret weapon)

      This looks like a reliable page because it comes from the Centre for Disease Control in the US: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/animals.html

      It says there have been cases of COVD 19 spreading to cats, dogs and tigers(!) but that the risk of it happening is low.

    • Photo: Alex Holmes

      Alex Holmes answered on 13 May 2020:

      Yes, so we think the virus was orgininally in bat and pangolin populations because the genetics of their coronavirusesis very similar to the genetics of SARS-CoV-2 (the official name of the virus). Some mutation or change in the animla virus occured that meant it could hop species and be infectious to humans too. Similar things happened with swine flu and bird flu.

      The interesting thing is that the way the virus gets into our cells, by using the ACE2 receptor as a kind of keyhole and the virus spike protein as a lockpick, could be similar in other animals. ACE2 has a really similar shape and sequence in different animals, so it’s like using the same lockpick to unlock lots of similarly shaped keyholes. Which might explain the reports of tigers and cats testing positive for covid-19.

      However, that doesn’t mean they’ll have the same symptoms or be ill in the same way because they have different immune systems and ways of dealing with infections.

    • Photo: Emma Daniels

      Emma Daniels answered on 13 May 2020:

      Hi Amy, this is such a great question! I’m not an expert on COVID-19 and I hadn’t really thought about this before you asked, so thank you! It seems like it is possible for some animals to get the virus. However, I could only find 5 reported cases of animals testing positive for the virus: two cats, two dogs and one tiger, so it’s rare. This looks like a really good website if you want to find out more: https://www.pdsa.org.uk/taking-care-of-your-pet/pet-health-hub/conditions/coronavirus-and-covid-19-in-pets

    • Photo: Vishi Reddy

      Vishi Reddy answered on 13 May 2020:

      Hi Amy, this is great question. In addition to the below answers, there is one recent interesting scientific research publication (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/07/science.abb7015). In experimental conditions, cats and ferrets were susceptible to COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). Dogs, pigs, chickens and ducks were not susceptible.

    • Photo: Alena Pance

      Alena Pance answered on 15 May 2020:

      Yes. It is thought that the virus was originally carried by bats and jumped to human via a second intermediary animal that hasn’t been found yet. Other strains of this type of virus have followed a similar path.

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