Coronavirus: What if a far more deadly coronavirus was found in pets?

The recent suggestion that ministers might consider killing or vaccinating animals to prevent the coronavirus from causing another dangerous mutation and jumping back to humans may sound like a sudden panic, but it’s not what scientists say. The middle is part of a long debate.

Infection of some of these species with SARS-CoV-2 can cause actual disease, causing veterinary, welfare or conservation problems. However, transmission to or from companion animals that spend a lot of time in close contact with humans also presents additional problems for trying to control an epidemic in humans. For example, if transmission occurs easily between humans and cats, prevention measures may be needed to control an epidemic in people, and may include vaccination and quarantining of cats.

There is good evidence for transmission from humans to cats but little evidence for transmission from cats to humans. Nor is there much evidence for transmission between cats under normal circumstances (that is, not in the laboratory). At the moment, there is no real reason to be concerned that infections in cats are a major problem. You are at a much higher risk from your family and friends with COVID than their cats, although you should take general hygiene precautions to reduce the risk of catching other diseases (such as toxoplasmosis) from cats.

It is almost inevitable that more of these types will appear as the virus adapts to all our efforts to control it. People are increasingly seeing these new forms in the UK as it is conducting the largest surveillance program in history. The long-term risk of SARS-CoV-2 in other species is that if the virus begins to circulate in them, a new, even more unpleasant form may appear and may not be recognized as a problem until until it comes back to the people.

Although rare, the UK government needs to consider these possible future scenarios, and the possibility of new forms appearing in animals as part of a recent report from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) about the long-term evolution of SARS-CoV. Was. -2. The most important way to reduce risk will be surveillance in animals to identify any new variants that are not yet visible in people. So don’t be surprised if your vet is asked to provide a swab sample from your pet if you have respiratory symptoms – and you may also be asked to provide your own if this happens.

The chances of pets being vaccinated are very small. Dog and cat vaccines are being developed for COVID, but there may be problems with showing that they are effective.

Vaccines were approved for use in people only after late-stage trials in humans, where large numbers of people were vaccinated and to see if they were protected from infection. Still, enough people in the trial had to be infected for the COVID vaccine versus the control vaccine to demonstrate any effect. It would be difficult to conduct similar tests in dogs and cats, while infection rates are low (or even unknown, as it currently is), and smaller trials simply do not provide good enough evidence.

It may be possible to use the same vaccines in cats and dogs as in humans, but there is also a risk. It is now accepted that exposing vaccinated people to new infections may be a way of selecting variants that can evade the immune response produced by the vaccine. If the same basic vaccine design is used in cats and dogs, it may select for vaccine “escape variants” in those species, which can then transfer back to those who have been vaccinated as well. Particularly if the vaccines have not been shown to be as effective as in people, or if they have only been given to certain cats and dogs.

Widespread euthanasia of pets (which would be called “killing” in livestock or wildlife) as a precaution is highly unlikely. Imagine the situation where a highly dangerous, potentially fatal form is transmitted from a cat to its owner and family. Infection in people is ideally transmitted by proper isolation in a suitable facility (as the low number of Ebola cases in the UK), preventing spread. Then the source cat and immediate cat contact – if any – can be euthanized to reduce the immediate risk to people and other cats.

Mass euthanasia of cats would make no sense unless the version was already widespread. Provided that the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in people and animals is meant to identify any such before it becomes dangerous, there is little point in worrying about mass euthanasia of our pets.

Monitoring programs in pets and wildlife are beginning to be funded through government agencies such as UK Research and Innovation. These schedules, and continued debate, will be key to avoiding poorly informed over-reactions in the future.