Smallpox patients should avoid contact with some pets

Smallpox patients should avoid all contact with their pets for 21 days, according to new advice from the UKHSA (UK Health Safety Agency).

So far, 106 people in the UK have been diagnosed with the disease.

Rodents such as hamsters can be particularly susceptible to the disease and the concern is that it could spread in the animal population.

The British government said that so far, no cases have been detected in pets and the risk is still low.

“The concern is that the virus could enter domestic animals and essentially play ping-pong between them and humans,” said Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick.

“If you’re not careful, you can create an animal reservoir for the disease that can result in it spreading back to humans, and we’re in a cycle of infection.”

The guidance from the UKHSA and other health authorities is that guinea pigs, rats, mice and other pet rodents are kept away from the home of anyone infected with monkeypox for 21 days and tested for the disease.

There are believed to be two million households in the UK with some form of pet rodent, according to sales figures.

Other pets, such as dogs and cats, must be placed in home isolation with regular veterinary checkups to “make sure they are not showing any clinical signs”.

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) advises that “wherever possible” the patient should avoid preparing food or caring for their pet if it can be done by someone else in the household.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with veterinary and public health colleagues both in the UK and around the world to manage the animal health risks associated with monkeypox,” said Veterinary Director of England, Christine. Middle miss.

Reservoir risk

Advice published by the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) this week recommends that pet rodents belonging to monkeypox patients should “ideally” be isolated in facilities monitored and tested for the disease before the quarantine period ends.

Animals should only be euthanized as a last resort in situations where isolation is not feasible, the document says.

Larger pets such as dogs can be quarantined at home with regular health checks.

Scientists say little is currently known about how monkeypox might behave in the domestic animal population.

But rodents and a particular species of squirrel will likely be able to catch and spread the disease more easily than humans.

The ECDC says a “transfer” event, in which a human infects a pet, could lead to the virus becoming established in European wildlife, though it describes the risk as “very low”.

The concern is that smallpox could become what are known as endemic zoonoses, where a disease jumps between animal species and is constantly present in this new population.