May 26, 2020

Rising Evidence of COVID-19 Transmission Potential to and between Animals Do We Need to Be Concerned

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

• [pre-print, not peer reviewed] While there is no evidence to suggest household pets can infect humans with COVID-19, there is mounting evidence that transmission from humans to pets occurs.  Across 17 case reports on confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals as of May 15, all but two animals had recovered fully and had only mild respiratory or digestive symptoms. Data from probable cat-to-cat transmission in Wuhan, China estimated the R0 to be 1.09 (95% CI 1.05, 1.13); this is much lower than the value for humans, suggesting transmission from cats is less important than that from humans. 

Akhmetzhanov et al. (May 25, 2020). Rising Evidence of COVID-19 Transmission Potential to and between Animals Do We Need to Be Concerned. Pre-print downloaded May 26 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.20109041