I’m going to have to go back to the start soon and update previous reviews of COVID-19 in animals, but there are still a couple of more species worth mentioning first. Cattle are an obvious consideration because they are important food animals that are widely raised in countries around the world, and they are
Mutating COVID-19 in Mink – What’s the Story?
Denmark is one of the largest mink producing countries in the world, and mink on numerous farms have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 from farm workers with COVID-19. At last report, 216 farms were affected. That wasn’t too surprising since outbreaks on mink farms have been seen in several countries, with particularly widespread infection on farms
COVID-19 in Animals Review Part 6: Marine Mammals
Perhaps this is one you didn’t see coming, but there have been lots of discussions about SARS-CoV-2 and marine mammals. You may think, “people don’t have much contact with marine mammals,” and of course you’d be correct, if you meant direct contact. However, human activity (and waste) can significantly influence marine mammal health.
COVID-19 in Animals Review Part 4: Mustelids (Mink and Ferrets)
I’ve spent a lot more talking about mink in the past few months than I ever thought I would. In regard to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19 in people), mink and ferrets (their close relatives) are a fascinating story, but I’ll try to be brief about it. Mink have become important because of the
COVID-19 in Animals Review Part 3: Pigs
Moving on from cats and dogs, let’s talk about one of our major livestock species, pigs.
Are pigs susceptible to the SARS-CoV-2 virus?
- Kind of, but not really. There are conflicting experimental data that show no or very little susceptibility to the virus.
Why did we talk a lot about pigs and SARS-CoV-2 initially?
A Plague of Men, and Dogs, and Marmots
Taking a break from the latest pandemic microbe, there have been a couple of recent items about another very old pandemic bug that’s never really completely gone away – Yersina pestis, known commonly as plague, and the cause of the Black Death of the mid 1300s, aka the deadliest pandemic recorded in human history.
COVID-19 and Animals: Odds and Ends (again)
I’ve been slow posting in the past few days, so here are a few quick recaps from the animal/COVID-19 world.
Higher quality debunking of crappy dog-SARS-CoV-2 paper
Back in April, a paper (Xia 2020) was released that suggested dogs could be the source of SARS-CoV-2. Most of us considered it crap at the
Don’t Take One of Those To Go…Raccoons Handed Out Outside a Convenience Store
Lots of things you can get at a convenience store aren’t great for your health, but I wouldn’t have thought we’d have to add rabies to the list of concerns.
Public health officials in Niagara Falls, NY, are trying to track down nine baby raccoons that were handed out by someone outside a 7-Eleven store
More Dutch Mink with SARS-CoV-2
The SARS-CoV-2 situation in the Dutch mink industry continues to evolve. Dutch authorities are now reporting outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 on 8 mink farms (with one more suspected), as part of their broader investigation of the industry. After identifying outbreaks on multiple mink farms, the infection was declared a reportable disease national surveillance was initiated, including
More COVID-19 Odds and Ends
A few quick updates on some recent SARS-CoV-2-related stories.
North Carolina dog: Positive result not confirmed
This case, a pug in North Carolina that had an oral swab that supposedly tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 as part of a Duke University household surveillance study, was reported a few weeks ago. It was strange that there