Can Dogs Transmit Ebola Virus?
by John Hallett, DVM
According to the CDC, "There are no reports of dogs or cats becoming sick with Ebola or of being able to spread Ebola to people or other animals," even in Africa. But then again, the CDC also downplayed the risk to medical workers in this country because our health system is so much better than in Africa.
So why is a dog in Texas under quarantine?
It appears that they just want to be sure. If you are paying attention to the media recently, you know that Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with body fluids from a person sick with Ebola or from contact with a bat or monkey that is carrying the virus. In Spain an Ebola patient's dog was euthanized, which sounds a little extreme considering what is known about the virus. I'm glad that pets of Ebola patients are not being euthanized in this country. I suppose if a dog stepped in or rolled in bodily fluids from an infected person and then rubbed that stuff on another person, they could be implicated in transferring the virus but an object like a chair could do almost the same thing. The important thing is that so far, dogs have not developed disease after being exposed to the Ebola virus.
It appears that they just want to be sure. If you are paying attention to the media recently, you know that Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with body fluids from a person sick with Ebola or from contact with a bat or monkey that is carrying the virus. In Spain an Ebola patient's dog was euthanized, which sounds a little extreme considering what is known about the virus. I'm glad that pets of Ebola patients are not being euthanized in this country. I suppose if a dog stepped in or rolled in bodily fluids from an infected person and then rubbed that stuff on another person, they could be implicated in transferring the virus but an object like a chair could do almost the same thing. The important thing is that so far, dogs have not developed disease after being exposed to the Ebola virus.
The CDC info that is being distributed to veterinarians says "There is limited evidence that dogs become infected with Ebola virus." So I checked around a little more. In 2005 a study in Africa showed that dogs can develop antibodies against Ebola but no virus was found in those dogs (antibodies are produced by an animal to fight a disease). This suggests that dogs can develop an immune response (antibodies) if they are exposed, but the immune response is apparently effective at keeping the virus from staying alive in dogs. It is possible that dogs could develop antibodies to Ebola without ever being infected (by just being exposed to the virus) but it doesn't look like much research has been done on dogs. I'm sure someone will write a paper on the Texas dog.
I suspect that someone will suggest that I shouldn't even be concerned about Ebola and that the media is promoting panic about Ebola while ignoring other things that kill many more people. For example, 51,000 people die of Rabies in India and Asia every year and in Baoshan, China, 5,000 dogs were killed because 5 people died from Rabies in July and August. That doesn't mean we should panic - about Rabies, or about Ebola, but we should learn all we can about new diseases to be prepared for things that are going to become more common.
