Paris 12th August : French researchers have discovered the first instance of an animal with confirmed monkeypox which could have been acquired by human transmission.The study was published in the medical journal The Lancet, a team from the Sorbonne University in Paris recorded the case of monekypox virus in two men who have sex with men such as an HIV-positive Latino man who is 44 years old living with undiagnosed viral loads on antiretrovirals, and a white man who is HIV-negative, aged 27 years old.
12 days following the beginning of monkeypox symptoms Their male Italian greyhound who was 4 years old and with no medical issues prior to the outbreak had a positive test for the virus.
The men who are non-exclusive members living in the same home, were diagnosed with anal skin ulcers within 6 days of having sex with others.
In the case of the Latino man anal skin ulcer was followed by a rash over the face, ear and legs, whereas the white man suffered from it on his back and legs.In both instances, the rash was closely associated with headaches, weakness and fever 4 days after.
The dog, which was sleeping with the men were diagnosed with mucocutaneous (involving both normal mucous membrane and skin) lesions that included tender, red bumps with white pus on the abdomen and anal skin ulcers.
The team sequenced the monkeypox virus DNA from dogs as well as the Latino man and discovered that the samples were contaminated with virus of the hMPXV-1 clan, lineage B.1 which has been expanding in non-endemic nations since the beginning of April.
“To the best of our knowledge the timing of the onset of symptoms in both the patients as well as later, in their dog suggest the possibility of a human-to-dog transmission of monkeypox virus” Sophie Seang, from the A University’s Infectious Diseases Department, along with her team wrote in the paper.
aceG Given the dog’s mucosal and skin lesions, and the positive monkeypox PCR results from oral and anal swabs, we believe that there is the existence of a canine disease, not just a simple carrier of the virus through close contact with humans or through airborne transmission (or both),” the team added.
In countries where the virus is endemic where there is no wild animal population (rodents as well as primates) have been discovered to carry the monkeypox virus.
However, the transmission of monkeypox virus in prairie dogs has been documented in the US as well as in captive primates in Europe who were in contact with imported animals infected with the virus.
However, the infection of domestic animals, including cats and dogs has not been documented, according to the researchers which suggests the importance of keeping pets away from patients with infections.
“Our findings should spur debate about the necessity of separating pets from monkeypox-positive individuals,” the team said in a call for further investigation on the possibility of secondary transmissions through pets.
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