The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its monkeypox guidance to include dogs as animals that can catch the virus. The CDC tweaked its guidance after the first case of a pet dog suspected of contracting the virus from its owners was documented in France.
Scientists said in a paper published in The Lancet medical journal last week that they'd found evidence of human-to-dog transmission of monkeypox. Before that, it was not clear whether the virus could be spread to dogs.
The case in France involves two male partners who live together and were not sexually exclusive. The men started showing symptoms of monkeypox a few days after sleeping with other partners.
Twelve days after they first showed symptoms, their pet dog — a four-year-old Italian greyhound — also developed lesions and then tested positive for the monkeypox virus.
The men reported having slept alongside their dog, though they said they had been careful to prevent him from coming into contact with any other people or pets from when their own monkeypox symptoms began.
In countries where monkeypox is endemic, wild animals, including rodents and primates, can carry the virus. Captive primates in Europe have also contracted monkeypox from coming into contact with imported animals that were sick, but infection in domestic pets like dogs and cats had not previously been reported.
