Dog tests positive for Coronavirus in Hong Kong

Wasn’t it Aru who said that there is a history of the virus being present in dogs (some dogs that is)? So this is nothing new, I’d have thought.
 
Amymay said:
Wasn’t it Aru who said that there is a history of the virus being present in dogs (some dogs that is)? So this is nothing new, I’d have thought.
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I don't know Amymay. I thought Covid-19 was a new virus. Have dogs been tested for it routinely previously?

ETA. Aru might help us out with further info.
 
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As Covid-19 is a newly identified virus, do you think that all that can be said at this time is that it has not yet been conclusively confirmed in dogs?

Can it be proved dogs are immune to Covid-19?

It has already crossed the species barrier when humans were infected by another animal host.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised at 2019-nCoV being passed from human to dog, given that the current epidemic in Wuhan is supposed to have started when the virus passed from pangolin or bat to human.

On the other hand, neither Metro nor the Daily Fail are exactly paragons of journalism, so I think we should take anything reported by them with a large pinch of salt.
 
Keith_Beef said:
I wouldn't be surprised at 2019-nCoV being passed from human to dog, given that the current epidemic in Wuhan is supposed to have started when the virus passed from pangolin or bat to human.

On the other hand, neither Metro nor the Daily Fail are exactly paragons of journalism, so I think we should take anything reported by them with a large pinch of salt.
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Thanks, Keith.

I am sort of thinking out loud as I haven't got a clue, but neither it seems have the experts.
 
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Exposure and infectious are two different things. They are still amid the testing phases on that dog and IMO should have never released that sort of information to the media given the number of pets that just got high rise syndrome/death after this started been spread in china :(.
Most viruses' do not readily pass the species barrier but several can be brief transient travelers when in close quarters with lots of exposure when there's close exposure..it doesn't mean they can grow thrive and replicate there.

"At present, the AFCD does not have evidence that pet animals can be infected with COVID-19 virus or can be a source of infection to people. The Department will conduct close monitoring of the above dog and collect further samples for testing to confirm if the dog has really been infected with the virus or this is a result of environmental contamination of the dog's mouth and nose. Repeated tests will be conducted for the dog and it will only be returned when the test result is negative.

The spokesman said that to ensure public and animal health, the department strongly advise mammalian pets of patients confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 virus to be put under quarantine by the AFCD. The pets will be delivered to the designated animal keeping facilities of the AFCD for quarantine and veterinary surveillance for 14 days. Samples will be collected for testing of COVID-19 virus as appropriate."

More detail here...but essentially ...don't let your pets roam during an outbreak and use basic hygiene measures.

https://www.stevedalepetworld.com/b...inary-association-addresses-new-corona-virus/
 
Dogs do traditionally get a gastro form of Coronavirus. We have a vaccine for that...and active outbreak situation in the greyhounds in parts of Australia which the media is also currently trying to blow out of proportion using the corona is scary link. It has 0 to do with the human outbreak. There's also no cross reactively with the current vaccine either....or the bovine one.
 
Parrotperson said:
In other words the press made it up.
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I was concerned that the poor dogs could catch it from humans not vice versa. Thankfully that seems unlikely.

I do not believe the world's press made it up.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...orld-health-organisation-monitoring-hong-kong

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/02/asia/pets-coronavirus-spread-intl-hnk/index.html

I was also concerned when I read that owners left their pets unattended for 3 days to go off to a Lunar festival. (why would anyone do this?) "Up to 50,000 pets had been left alone at home in Wuhan, Lao Mao estimated" When the city was sealed off and owners were unable to return the pets remained in their apartments starving to death.

Owners throwing their dogs to their deaths from tower blocks doesn't make for good reading either.
 
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I can't find the link to post but it was a scientist who said that it wasn't correct. It's stories like this that result in the death of dogs because people panic when they read them. Covid-19 has a very low death rate although its slightly higher than seasonal flu. 3120 people have died world-wide tp date with 17,000 dying from seasonal flu in the UK alone per year.

We have to be mindful of essentially spreading rumours. The science says the dog wasn't infected. The people believed the newspaper. Hence dogs are dying because people are stupid (People are stupid everywhere BTW) and are killing them thinking they'll get infected.

But even if the do get infected there chances of dying are very very small. But hey that doesn't stop the newspapers who need to sell print.
 
I believe it was fact not rumour that a dog tested weakly positive and was placed in quarantine. Scientists were unsure if this was infection or contamination and the WHO were monitoring the situation.

I will have to disagree on the significance of Covid-19 and its impact on human health. Public health across the world is suffering.

I don't know how anyone else stays informed of current affairs but I rely on the media in its various forms.

The media cannot be held responsible for the treatment of animals in a country which continues to make poor choices in regard to animal welfare.
 
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ester said:
infection, or contamination, or an artefact of a very quickly validated and released test, a lot of which would have been done my modelling not real life-type scenarios.
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What does that mean, Ester please? That they will have known soon after testing whether it was true infection?
 
It means that the tests have been developed very quickly.
Usually when you are validating a test you ensure in-computer that it is not going to cross react with other pathogens to give you a false positive.
Then you run a smaller list that may be expected to be present in your samples, in the test matrix you would expect, ie for 'snot' we use pig mucin.
Then you check if anything else might be in the sample matrix that interferes with the sample being processed/tested properly.

Etc.

I've not been able to fully look at the tests they are currently using or if this might be the case in this instance but we know the US has had issues and that these tests have been developed pretty quickly, much much faster than would be usual.
 
ester said:
It means that the tests have been developed very quickly.
Usually when you are validating a test you ensure in-computer that it is not going to cross react with other pathogens to give you a false positive.
Then you run a smaller list that may be expected to be present in your samples, in the test matrix you would expect, ie for 'snot' we use pig mucin.
Then you check if anything else might be in the sample matrix that interferes with the sample being processed/tested properly.

Etc.

I've not been able to fully look at the tests they are currently using or if this might be the case in this instance but we know the US has had issues and that these tests have been developed pretty quickly, much much faster than would be usual.
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Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to explain.
 
I read weeks ago that the Chinese authorities had told owners in Wuhan, to relinquish to them, their pets for fear of transmission?
 
Blazingsaddles said:
Thank you? Although, I refuse to stop kissing my dogs. Nothing lifts the soul more than a kiss on the top of the fuzzy bit of a dogs nose. Coronavirus be damned!!!
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Yep, I kiss the top of my dog's nose too :)

I have to say I have never caught anything from my dogs. Can't say the same about humans.

It is thought to be human to dog transmission but even if it were dog to human there is absolutely no need for anyone to hurl their dog from a high rise.
 
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