Does Covid-19 represent a risk for animals?

Cats are susceptible to the coronavirus, but show few symptoms.

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• The presence of Covid-19 was detected in a mink farm in Eure-et-Loir, where the Ministry of Agriculture has given the order to slaughter all of the thousand animals on the farm.

• While the mink seems to be one of the only animal species that can transmit this virus to humans, should we be worried about other farms on French territory or for pets?

• No, according to specialists, who confirm that the risk is low.

Thousands of mink slaughtered in France, several million in Denmark and the Netherlands after the discovery of cases of coronavirus on farms.

Should we fear transmission to other farm animals or pets in France?

To see more clearly,

interviewed two specialists: Jeanne Brugère-Picoux, honorary professor of the National Veterinary School of Alfort, member of the National Academy of Medicine and Vincent Legros, teacher-researcher at VetAgro Sup, in in charge of the COVIDAC study and researcher at the International Center for Infectious Disease Research (Ciri).

Chickens, cows… Can other farms be affected?

In the current state of knowledge, no.

The terrible fate experienced by mink farms is due to the particular character of the animal in the face of the virus, indicates Vincent Legros.

"What we know for the moment is that they can contaminate each other but they can also transmit the virus to humans," he says.

Twelve contaminations of this type have been identified in Denmark.

It is also the only animal that is capable of it.

“No transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans has been described so far from domestic animals (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), with the exception of mink. breeding, ”says Jeanne Brugère-Picoux.

While 75% of emerging diseases in humans are of animal origin, the issue of transmission of the coronavirus to humans interested researchers in the pandemic very early on.

Result: "In chickens, ducks and pigs, we do not observe a return of the infection to humans," says Vincent Legros.

Impossible for these farms to contaminate humans.

Ditto for cattle: "There was a study on cows in Germany: it showed that they are not very sensitive to the coronavirus", recalls Jeanne Brugère-Picoux.

"If there had been a passage from cattle to humans, given the number of animals there are in France, we would probably have already observed it", adds Vincent Legros.

Are pets at risk?

“No case of transmission from a dog or cat to humans in natural conditions” has been identified, recalls Vincent Legros.

Ditto for pets, where the only infections found by studies have been ... from the owner to his animal.

Cats, hamsters and other ferrets are eight times more likely to be infected when their master is positive, according to the Covidac study.

Dogs seem less susceptible to the disease.

Hence the importance of taking precautions in the event of an infection: “You have to maintain barrier gestures, even with your pet.

What we are trying to avoid is that the virus infects too many animals and that it adapts to another species, which it then uses as a reservoir for the disease, ”comments Vincent Legros, who recommends respect the distance until the test is negative.

In a study made public last week, ANSES confirmed that “domestic and wild animals do not play an epidemiological role in the maintenance and spread of SARS-CoV-2.

At this stage, this diffusion is the result of human-to-human transmission through the respiratory tract.

This does not prevent specialists from being careful.

"No role has been demonstrated for the moment", nuance Jeanne Brugère-Picoux but a mutation of the virus transmissible to humans remains possible.

She advises strengthening the surveillance of animal species "because any virus that changes species presents a risk".

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