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WHO urges caution after dog catches monkeypox

It is the first reported case of human-to-animal transmission of the virus

Published: Thu 18 Aug 2022, 7:16 AM

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  • AFP

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Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged people infected with monkeypox to avoid exposing animals to the virus, following the first reported case of human-to-dog transmission — between two men and their Italian greyhound, living together in Paris — which was reported last week, in The Lancet, a medical journal.

“This is the first case reported of human-to-animal transmission ... and we believe it is the first instance of a canine being infected,” explained Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox, to reporters.

Experts had been aware of the theoretical risk that such a jump could happen, she said, adding that public health agencies had already been advising those suffering from the disease to “isolate from their pets”.

She also said that “waste management is critical” to lowering the risk of contaminating rodents and other animals outside the household.

When viruses jump the species barrier, it often sparks concern that they could mutate dangerously. Lewis stressed that so far, there were no reports that this was happening with monkeypox.

However, she acknowledged that “as soon as the virus moves into a different setting in a different population, there is obviously a possibility that it will develop differently and mutate differently”.

The main concern revolves around animals outside of the household.

“The more dangerous situation ... is where a virus can move into a small mammal population with high density of animals,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told reporters.

“It is through the process of one animal infecting the next and the next and the next that you see rapid evolution of the virus," he explained.

He stressed though that there was little cause for concern around household pets.

“I don’t expect the virus to evolve any more quickly in one single dog than in one single human,” he said, adding that while “we need to remain vigilant ... pets are not a risk".

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Monkeypox was originally identified in monkeys kept for research at Denmark in 1958, though it is found most frequently in rodents.

The disease was first discovered in humans in 1970, with the spread since then mainly limited to certain Western and Central African countries.

In May, cases of the disease, known to cause fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, began spreading rapidly around the world.

Worldwide, more than 35,000 cases have been confirmed since the start of the year in 92 countries, and 12 people have died, according to the WHO, which has designated the outbreak as a global health emergency.

With global case numbers jumping by 20 per cent in the past week alone, the UN health agency is urging all countries to do more to rein in the spread, such as ensuring that at-risk populations have access to services and information about the dangers of this virus, and how to protect themselves from it.

There is also a vaccine — originally developed for smallpox — but it is in short supply. Lewis also stressed that there was still little data on the effectiveness of the vaccine against monkeypox, in the current outbreak.

While no randomised control trials had been conducted yet, she said that there were reports of breakthrough cases following vaccination, indicating that “the vaccine is not 100 per cent”.

Pointing to limited studies in the 1980s, suggesting that the smallpox vaccines used at the time might offer 85-per cent protection against monkeypox, she said the breakthrough cases were “not really a surprise”.

“But it reminds us that the vaccine is not a silver bullet,” she pointed out.



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