Can pets and other domestic animals spread coronavirus?

Since the outbreak of coronavirus in China a few months ago, panic is spreading across borders because of misinformation. Given its animal origin, many pet owners have been asking whether their pets are safe from the deadly virus.

They also want to know, in case their animals have corona, is it possible to transfer the disease to their owners and whether there are vaccines pets can be given for protection?

As a zoonotic expert, today I will shed light on this issue for the benefit of livestock farmers and pet owners.

For starters, the coronavirus outbreak is suspected to have originated from animals adding to the pool of zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases are infections spread from animals to humans.

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No vaccine yet

Yes, many animals including cats, dogs, rabbit, porcine and cattle can be infected with coronavirus but in many cases cause a mild disease. Sadly, no vaccines have been developed against Coronaviruses given the economic implications and other technicalities in developing viral vaccines.

On whether the disease in domestic animals can cross over to humans, that is a discussion still going on among many professionals and it all depends on our behaviour. Let me explain.

Diseases emergence is mainly caused by the unintended consequence of human actions, and human behaviour is often the decisive determinant of diseases emergence. Furthermore, the change in human behaviour can be the single most powerful defence our species has against the phenomenon of infectious diseases emergence.

In the case of Coronavirus in China, it is believed that human behaviour, in this case, trade-in wildlife or eating of wildlife, might have contributed to the outbreak.

The earliest coronavirus disease was infectious bronchitis in chickens. In humans, coronavirus is known to circulate continuously without causing serious diseases and was mainly isolated in patients with common cold until the animal coronaviruses started crossing over to humans to cause serious respiratory diseases like SARS and MERS.

In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of emerging infectious diseases in animal and human species with the majority of these infections in humans originating from animals.

The diseases include Avian influenza, Swine influenza, SARS, MERS and now the novel coronavirus 2019.

Every pathogen has a host range; this can either be a natural host or accidental host or a spillover.

So what exactly causes the spillover?

1. Population density

Increase in populations leads to needing for more space for food production, more animals to feed the growing population, factors which in turn lead to an increased frequency of contact with wild and domestic animals and their waste. This is what transpired at Wuhan, the corona epicentre in China.

High population with poverty also leads to low education level hence poor sanitation.

2. Change in human consumption behaviour

The change in human consumption habits can be due to cultural practices, or climate change leading to scarcity of conventional foods, which in turn leads to trade and consumption of wild animals like monkey and bats which harbour some viruses.

3. Change in ecology leading to Recombination

For many viruses, recombination allows them to acquire multiple genetic changes and can combine much genetic information to produce advantageous genotype, which can be as a result of climate change or congestion of different species of animals in one place.

4. Animal husbandry

The way animals are kept will determine their ability to shed infectious pathogens. Conditions like stress, congestion and poor nutrition have been known to increases shedding of viruses from the parent host.

There are three stages of host switching

1. Initial single infection of a new host with no onward transmission or dead-end host.

2. Spillover that goes on to cause local chains of transmission in the new host population before an outbreak.

3. Epidemic or sustained endemic host to host diseases transmission in the new host population. This is where we are with corona.

Animals and humans are living in closer proximity than ever before due to urbanisation, deforestation, climate change, population growth, increase in morbidity and the intensification of the livestock industry.

This means that diseases that jump from animals to humans are on the rise and can spread in a matter of hours or days.

While considerable effort has been made in fighting such diseases, it is still not possible to identify which among the thousands of viruses in wild and domestic animals will emerge in humans or exactly where and when the next emerging zoonotic diseases will originate.

But with better information about the origin of the new viruses, it may be possible to identify and control potentially emergent viruses in their natural reservoirs through:

1. Improved surveillance in animals and humans

2.  Improved detection of pathogens in their reservoirs

3.  Improved research to identify the important steps that favour the emergence

[Dr Evans Juma is a zoonotic expert and works at One Health Resource Center as a Research associate]