Mpox is a zoonosis: it originates from the animal world and is transmitted to humans through sporadic contact in the forests of African countries, where it is endemic. But could the virus go in the opposite direction and pass, during an epidemic, from humans to their pets? The risk, although theoretical, is taken seriously by health authorities.
In fact, in most countries it is recommended that people suffering from mox avoid contact with their animals as much as possible, or even keep them in a place other than where they are isolated, as in the United States. In France, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) recommends, “before each contact with your animal”wash your hands, then wear disposable gloves and a mask. “It is above all a question of hygiene, we made the same type of recommendations during the Covid-19 pandemic”“stresses Florence Etoré, head of the ANSES unit for assessing risks related to the well-being, health and nutrition of animals and vectors.”
Why so many precautions? The challenge is to prevent the virus from passing from a pet to wildlife at all costs. If it were to become established in the long term among species common in temperate zones, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of this disease. If the eradication of smallpox was made possible by mass vaccination, it is only because this disease is transmitted exclusively between humans. Currently, Mpox is endemic (meaning that contamination is possible at all times) only in one part of the African continent. The challenge is to prevent it from spreading further in the long term.
Samples from 34 pets.
The elements available today to estimate this probability are rather weak. In June 2022, infectious disease specialists and virologists at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris studied for the first time a case of transmission of the monkeypox virus from a male couple to their dog. Tests showed that the virus identified in the samples of one of the patients was identical to that of Skin lesions on the animal. But researchers are cautious: “If the dog was indeed carrying the virus, it did not develop the disease”ANSES warned a few months later, in October 2022. Experts conclude in a report that dogs could, at the very least, present a “low intensity and limited duration skin behavior”which means that the virus could be present in external sores or pustules (not caused by the disease) without contaminating the animal. A similar case was identified in Brazil in August 2022.
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