OMICRON SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CATS AND DOGS
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Context
- Several video clips have emerged where pets infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus are being killed in China.
Are cats and dogs susceptible to Omicron?
- A small study carried out in Spain has found that dogs and cats do not easily get infected by the Omicron variant.
- And there is hardly any chance that the virus will spread from dogs and cats to humans.
- Also, the researchers were not able to isolate the Omicron variant virus for any of the pets that tested positive, which is a strong indication of the low viral load.
- The low susceptibility of dogs and cats to the Omicron variant is in contrast to their susceptibility to the Alpha and Delta variants.
In a nutshell, the risk of pets/animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low. At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading SARS-CoV-2- CDC.