People who have cats and / or dogs at home should avoid contact with them if they become infected with Covid, experts suggest.
A group of scientists in the Netherlands have discovered that coronavirus is common in cats and dogs at home in case their owners become infected. Although cases of owners transmitting Covid-19 to pets are considered to be of negligible risk to public health, scientists say there is a potential risk that pets could act as a "reservoir" for the coronavirus and transmit it again. in humans.
Dr. "If you have Covid-19, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, as you would with other people," says Els Broens of Utrecht University.
"The main concern is not the health of the animals - dogs and cats either have no symptoms at all, or have mild symptoms - but the potential risk that pets may act as a reservoir of the virus and transmit it to humans."
Fortunately, to date no transmission of the virus from animals to humans has been reported.
The Broens-led research was presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, but has not yet been published.
