A greyhound in Paris, France, has been infected with monkeypox after catching the virus from its owners, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Two men living in the same house noticed lesions on the dog 12 days after they started getting symptoms, according to the report. They said they had been co-sleeping with their pet, and genetic analysis showed that the same virus which was present in the men had infected the dog.
The case, which has been reported in medical journal The Lancet, is the first ever reported incidence of the virus in a canine.
Monkeypox is known to infect a wide range of mammals including squirrels, prairie dogs, rats and mice as well as monkeys and humans, and recent outbreaks of the disease among humans in Africa and US were both thought to have been started by an infected animal.
While health officials say that there is no evidence yet that dogs can infect humans or indeed other dogs, many are concerned that if the virus starts to infect animals in countries that don’t normally have monkeypox, then those creatures could become a long-term source of infection and cause the virus to adapt and evolve.
Monkeypox spreads through close skin-to-skin contact and also when someone touches fabrics – such as clothing, bedding, or towels – which have been used by someone with the virus. Around 35,000 cases have now been confirmed around the world in the latest outbreak in humans.
