Animals and Coronavirus

Published on july 13, 2020

According to the center for disease control and prevention, there are several types of Coronaviruses. Some of them cause illness in humans and other infect and cause illness in animals like cats, dogs, bats, and cattle, etc. some type of coronavirus only infects animals and does not cause illness in humans.

How COVID-19 spreads?

Some type of coronavirus infects animals and then if a human comes in contact with that animal he is infected too. The current outbreak of COVID-19 is the most recent example of such type of coronavirus.

The First-person tested positive for coronavirus came in contact with a bat and he got infected. after that now the disease is spreading from human to human and daily thousands of new cases are being reported. This shows the relation between animals and coronavirus.

Coronavirus spreads from person to person through the tiny droplets from respiratory organs or through direct contact with the person. An infected person who doesn’t show prominent samples are mainly responsible for the spread of this virus.

They don’t know they are infected and when they sneeze, cough, breath, or comes in direct contact with people infects other people.

Animals spreading Coronavirus:

Apparently, animals and coronavirus have a relationship but to date, there is no enough proof of the thing that animals spread coronavirus or there is a prominent role of any the animal in the spread of coronavirus. This is the reason viruses spread by animal risk is considered negligible, but it can't be ignored.

We need to conduct more studies to get assurance that animal does not spread coronavirus and what are the signs of infection in the animals. As humans and different animals react differently to the coronavirus that’s why we don't know what the symptoms of infection in animals are.

There is no solid evidence of the thing that animals can get infected by humans. In some cases, if the animal is in close contact with humans the chances of the animal getting an infected increase.

Pets:

Dogs, cats and a few other animals are can be infected by SARS-COV-2 which causes COVID-19 in humans. To see if all animals get infected, we need to conduct more studies.

Pets like dogs and cats got infected after coming in close contact with the infected people in the USA. Dogs may get infected easily, but they do not spread the virus that easily to other dogs as compared to cats.

Lions and tigers:

A few lions and tigers are tested positive for COVID-19 at a zoo. These animals showed respiratory illness and after testing they are confirmed to be infected with COVID-19. It is reported that these animals came in direct contact with zoo staff who were infected with SARS-COV-2. These lions recovered safely.

Minks:

Minks at several forms are reported to be infected with SARS-COV-2. These minks showed gastrointestinal and respiratory signs of illness. According to form owners, a rapid increase in the deaths of the minks is noticed.

Staff at the forms showed clear signs of COVID-19 and upon close contact with minks, the infection transferred into minks. Some minks at the forms have developed antibodies to coronavirus. It shows that they have been infected at some time. Netherland government is investigating the relation between minks' death and the farm environment.

Animals who do not get infected:

According to the recent research mice, hens, chickens, and ducks do not get infected and spread SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19.

Many state health institutions are working hard to find if animals do get infected and how they react to the virus. they are testing pets of infected people at different places to find out if pets get infected or not. they are also tested for antibody development against this virus to understand the relationship between animals and coronavirus deeply.

This will help us better understand the role of pets in spreading and infection people.

Conclusion:

It is crucial to know if animals get infected and spread coronavirus or not? if yes then we need to take extra care. To date, there is very little evidence of the relationship between animals and coronavirus other than cats and dogs. As our knowledge is limited that’s why we need to conduct more studies confirm this.

At some place’s animals got infected from infected humans that’s why state health institutions are working hard to find out if animals get infected or not and if they get infected with what signs they show of infection. It will help us to avoid the spread of the disease from animals to animals and from humans to animals.