Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Feb 2;13(3):524.
doi: 10.3390/ani13030524.

Interactions between Humans and Dogs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recent Updates and Future Perspectives

Mohamed S Kamel  1   2 , Amr A El-Sayed  2 , Rachel A Munds  1   3 , Mohit S Verma  1   3   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Interactions between Humans and Dogs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recent Updates and Future Perspectives

Mohamed S Kamel et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

COVID-19 is one of the deadliest epidemics. This pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but the role of dogs in spreading the disease in human society is poorly understood. This review sheds light on the limited susceptibility of dogs to COVID-19 infections which is likely attributed to the relatively low levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in the respiratory tract and the phylogenetic distance of ACE2 in dogs from the human ACE2 receptor. The low levels of ACE2 affect the binding affinity between spike and ACE2 proteins resulting in it being uncommon for dogs to spread the disease. To demonstrate the role of dogs in spreading COVID-19, we reviewed the epidemiological studies and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in dogs. Additionally, we discussed the use of detection dogs as a rapid and reliable method for effectively discriminating between SARS-CoV-2 infected and non-infected individuals using different types of samples (secretions, saliva, and sweat). We considered the available information on COVID-19 in the human-dog interfaces involving the possibility of transmission of COVID-19 to dogs by infected individuals and vice versa, the human-dog behavior changes, and the importance of preventive measures because the risk of transmission by domestic dogs remains a concern.

Keywords: ACE2; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; bio-detection; companion; diagnosis; epidemiology; infection; pets; social distancing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

M.S.V has interests in Krishi, Inc., a company focused on developing molecular diagnostics. R.A.M. is an employee of Krishi, Inc.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogram of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor amino acid sequences in humans and different animals including dogs, cats, pangolin. The ACE2 amino acid sequences were downloaded from NCBI, and the tree was generated using a maximum likelihood estimate under a JTT model and with a bootstrap 1.000. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA X software.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic illustration displays the role of ACE2 and TMPRSS-2 receptors in SARS-CoV-2 attachment and infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. El-Sayed A., Aleya L., Kamel M. COVID-19: A new emerging respiratory disease from the neurological perspective. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2021;28:40445–40459. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-12969-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. El-Sayed A., Abdel-Daim M.M., Kamel M. Causes of respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2021;28:28825–28830. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-14200-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aboubakr H.A., Sharafeldin T.A., Goyal S.M. Stability of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses in the environment and on common touch surfaces and the influence of climatic conditions: A review. Transbound. Emerg. Dis. 2021;68:296–312. doi: 10.1111/tbed.13707. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu Y., Gayle A.A., Wilder-Smith A., Rocklöv J. The reproductive number of COVID-19 is higher compared to SARS coronavirus. J. Travel Med. 2020;27:1–4. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa021. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tazerji S.S., Duarte P.M., Rahimi P., Shahabinejad F., Dhakal S., Malik Y.S., Shehata A.A., Lama J., Klein J., Safdar M., et al. Transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to animals: An updated review. J. Transl. Med. 2020;18:358. doi: 10.1186/s12967-020-02534-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources