Pets as possible Ebola vector?

I really can't believe how fast this is becoming a nightmare reality! Two months ago I said to my wife "this could be pretty serious by Christmas time" not thinking that it actually would pan out this way and even faster than I had imagined....

So I was watching some videos on ABC news and this one came up:

abcnews.go.com...

Fast forward the video to 2:00 to get straight to the point.

It's unclear if pets can transmit Ebola, but Pham made it clear she didn't want anything to happen to her pet.

Um, WHAT?!?!?! Dog's have been shown to be asymptomatic carriers of the virus!! And now they have placed her dog into a facility with other dogs? A facility that likely gives pets out for adoption.

Ebola was shown to infect monkeys in the same room that had no direct contact, were in separate cages and were 8ft apart (across room form each other). It was also found in another facility (in the USA) that Ebola had spread through vents to another room and infected animals there.

Yet again, Why-The-F@#k are we playing softball with this virus???? That animal should be in an airtight room with remote feeding and under special observation, as well as being researched to find out as much as we can about this thing.

The brain disease of Political-Correctness has finally killed us!

Really? Political correctness? Can't you leave the right wing agenda out of it? Oh and like most right wingers your facts are incorrect and outright lies at the source. No Ebola virus was transmitted through air ducts. Ebola is difficult to transmit and is not airborne. In fact you nearly have to lick fluids from an infected to get it. So either quit lying to cause panic or get your facts straight.

originally posted by: 8675309jenny

The brain disease of Political-Correctness has finally killed us!

I empathise with the nurse, even with the dog, but pets are a secondary consideration when it comes to a fatal virus.
Dogs can carry ebola and that's been proven.

These people are more worried about the damn dog than they are about the HUMANS.

The world is crazy.

We're not dead yet...but we're heading that direction.
And we're making good time.

originally posted by: damwel
Really? Political correctness? Can't you leave the right wing agenda out of it? Oh and like most right wingers your facts are incorrect and outright lies at the source. No Ebola virus was transmitted through air ducts. Ebola is difficult to transmit and is not airborne. In fact you nearly have to lick fluids from an infected to get it. So either quit lying to cause panic or get your facts straight.

You might want to read about the Reston virus in Virginia.
It's an ebola virus.
It not only spread in separated animals but it spread into different rooms in a controlled research facility.

You might also wonder if 8000+ people were licking each other in West Africa when they contracted this disease.

The licking was an exaggeration. This Ebola is not Reston and it is not transmit table by air. Period. As far as the animals over people goes, I know what you mean, there is a woman here in my office that is just beside herself over the dog. I keep telling her ,"it's a dog".

During the 2001–2002 outbreak in Gabon, we observed that several dogs were highly exposed to Ebola virus by eating infected dead animals.

To examine whether these animals became infected with Ebola virus, we sampled 439 dogs and screened them by Ebola virus specific immunoglobulin (Ig) G assay, antigen detection, and viral polymerase chain reaction amplification.
Seven (8.9%) of 79 samples from the 2 main towns, 15 (15.2%) of 99 samples from Mekambo, and 40 (25.2%) of 159 samples from villages in the Ebola virus–epidemic area had detectable Ebola virus–IgG, compared to only 2 (2%) of 102 samples from France.
Among dogs from villages with both infected animal carcasses and human cases, seroprevalence was 31.8%. A significant positive direct association existed between seroprevalence and the distances to the Ebola virus–epidemic area.

This study suggests that dogs can be infected by Ebola virus and that the putative infection is asymptomatic

SOURCE PDF

I do understand how pet owners feel about this. Right now they are sheltering a dog and maybe taking a test if the pet is a carrier. But if this escalates there will be no tests for pets and they will be put down.
In Africa dogs has been a problem spreading Ebola as bodies of the deceased have been buried in less than a meter deep grave and dogs have dug the bodies up and eaten those. We don´t see the same on a scale that it happens in Africa, but it is possibly inside the houses where the patient has died and food has run out to the pet.

Horrifying..

originally posted by: damwel
Really? Political correctness? Can't you leave the right wing agenda out of it? Oh and like most right wingers your facts are incorrect and outright lies at the source. No Ebola virus was transmitted through air ducts. Ebola is difficult to transmit and is not airborne. In fact you nearly have to lick fluids from an infected to get it. So either quit lying to cause panic or get your facts straight.

What the hell does being anti-PC bull#e have to do with right-wing anything?!?

"Like most right-wingers" ??? Yea, I'm such a right-wing nut I voted for Kerry in 2004, and even considered Obama in '08 before the hypnotism wore off.


So you're wrong about my politics, you're wrong about my sources being lies, and just wrong in general. This strain of Ebola is spreading MUCH too easily. These infected doctors weren't playing twister with Mr. Duncan!

originally posted by: badgerprints

originally posted by: 8675309jenny

The brain disease of Political-Correctness has finally killed us!

I empathise with the nurse, even with the dog, but pets are a secondary consideration when it comes to a fatal virus.
Dogs can carry ebola and that's been proven.

These people are more worried about the damn dog than they are about the HUMANS.

The world is crazy.

We're not dead yet...but we're heading that direction.
And we're making good time.

In the case of the nurse in Spain, her dog was euthanized almost immediately. I'm not saying that's necessary, but any animal that may have the virus should be in complete isolation at minimum.

If we continue to not take this thing seriously, it's going to be way more catastrophic than it needs to be.

There is actually a segment of canines, that have been potentially exposed to the disease, from the very start of this outbreak, that NO ONE is looking at and likely won't be anytime soon...

ALL military dogs, working police dogs, the DHS Beagle brigade and contraband detection canines stationed at airports AROUND THE WORLD!

These dogs are on the FRONT LINES, inspecting cargo and passengers whom could be carrying Ebola. In fact these noted, very expensive, working dogs and their handlers have potentially had the longest period between their first exposure, YET, they CONTINUE to interact with the public on a daily basis and not ONE government official has thought to examine, euthanize or quarantine these cohort of dogs.

Who is currently caring for the military and police dogs that have screened bags and passengers at the airports? Could these "high value" dogs have been exposed to Ebola? Possibly, but I doubt they would be euthanized as quickly, but hey, according to government officials, its ok to euthanize "low value" civilian dogs with FAR LESS exposure potential to the disease.

If the Spanish government officials had spared the civilian dog, much would have been learned, assuming the right steps were taken.

BUT, make no mistake, the military dog, working police dogs, the DHS Beagle brigade and and contraband detection canines stationed at airports ARE FAR MORE LIKELY to have been exposed to Ebola at this point and are the REAL potential carriers. FAR more than ANY civilian owned dog, but EVERYONE wants to focus on dogs that have been exposed to individuals, whom have not always proven to be carriers yet.

People who supported euthanizing this dog keep asking, "Are you willing to bet your life and your love ones for a dog?". Well, military and police dogs are already doing that and since they are in the public, both their handlers and administrators, are betting the lives of the general population without anyone's consent.

I make the above statement solely to point out HYPOCRISY, not to lay out a realistic transmission scenario. FYI, this thought comes from experience I had working with academic epidemiologists who studied the SARS outbreak a decade ago. My roles was the GIS mapping and yes, working dogs and handlers exposed at airports were included in the scenarios we mapped.

originally posted by: damwel
Really? Political correctness? Can't you leave the right wing agenda out of it? Oh and like most right wingers your facts are incorrect and outright lies at the source. No Ebola virus was transmitted through air ducts. Ebola is difficult to transmit and is not airborne. In fact you nearly have to lick fluids from an infected to get it. So either quit lying to cause panic or get your facts straight.

Maybe you should get your facts straight. Ebola can be transmitted through fluids from a sneeze and it did happen between monkeys in not only separate cages but separate rooms (granted monkeys do throw food/feces etc). Read "The Hot Zone", the entire group of monkeys in separate rooms and cages were infected rapidly. And you don't nearly have to lick fluids to be infected...that is one of stupidest things I have ever heard on here.

My pets are my children. They are my family . People that haven't owned a pet don't understand this about many pet owners. In fact, my pet's lives and well being are more important to me than any human life, including my own. It is the responsibility that I signed up for when I chose to adopt and take a sentient being into my care. I will spend my last gasping breath to ensure their safety as any good parent would do for their children.

Remember the Black Plague when the vector was unknown and they were killing cats and dogs and all sorts of other animals in a desperate attempt at tackling the disease?

This will go down in history as one of those frantic episodes.

This is kind of related to another post I had put on ATS:

Discouraging Law Enforcement from shooting dogs, by taking out an Animal Mortality Insurance policy

Basically, if people start insuring their pets as an "asset", it won't be as easy for government to sweep misconduct under the rug because the death of the animal will trigger subrogation among the involved insurance companies.

originally posted by: CraftBuilder
My pets are my children. They are my family . People that haven't owned a pet don't understand this about many pet owners. In fact, my pet's lives and well being are more important to me than any human life, including my own. It is the responsibility that I signed up for when I chose to adopt and take a sentient being into my care. I will spend my last gasping breath to ensure their safety as any good parent would do for their children.

I've owned many a dear pet and loved them very much, but you must not have children if you can say "my pets lives are more important to me than any human life".

For me, it's about a .002second decision to protect my family if pets become a suspected vector.

a reply to: 8675309jenny

My pets are my only family.