Dog positive for coronavirus ‘completely fine’
A pug in North Carolina tested positive for coronavirus. INQUIRER.net Stock Photo
A dog that tested positive for coronavirus is “completely fine,” according to his family from North Carolina in the US.
The pug, named Winston, was swabbed along with his family, the McLeans, for a study by Duke University last April 1. The family, except for one daughter, tested positive for the virus, WRAL-TV reported on April 27.
The family has two dogs, a cat and a lizard. The dogs and the cat were swabbed, and only Winston tested positive.
Heather McLean, a pediatrician at Duke, said of the dog’s supposed symptoms: “Pugs are a little unusual in that they cough and sneeze in a very strange way. So it almost seems like he was gagging, and there was one day when he didn’t want to eat his breakfast, and if you know pugs you know they love to eat, so that seemed very unusual.”
Her son Ben, a college student, said Winston has a habit of licking their dinner plates and sleeps in the same bed as his mom.
A week after news broke of Winston’s results, the family assures that he has recovered.
“Winston is all better. He’s completely fine. We just went on a walk today and he ran around in the park,” Ben said, as quoted in a CBS Boston report yesterday, May 4. He added that Winston and the rest of the family observe social distancing.
“We just want to say that we don’t think this story should be a cause of concern for people who have dogs,” he said.
“We don’t think dogs can give it to humans, and if humans can give it to dogs, the chance is very low that the dog gets sick and it’s even super low if not impossible that the dog would have any severe reaction to coronavirus,” he stressed.
Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department say that cats and dogs cannot pass the virus to humans but can test positive for it if they are infected by their owners, the Associated Press reported in early March.
A dog in Hong Kong tested weak positive for the virus on Feb. 27, 28 and March 2. /ra
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