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April 28, 2020 — A pet dog that’s part of a Duke University study is believed to be the first in the United States to test positive for the new coronavirus.
The dog is a pub named Wilson who belongs to a family in Chapel Hill, NC. The mother, father and son in the home also tested positive for the coronavirus, but another family dog and cat didn’t test positive, CBS News reported.
The family also has a lizard, which wasn’t tested.
“To our knowledge, this is the first instance in which the virus has been detected in a dog. Little additional information is known at this time as we work to learn more about the exposure,” Dr. Chris Woods, the lead investigator of the Molecular and Epidemiological Study of Suspected Infection (MESSI), said in a statement to CBS News.
Last month, health officials in Hong Kong said a coronavirus patient’s pet dog tested positive for the virus and was likely the first case of human-to-animal transmission.
Since then, there have been several suspected cases of coronavirus reported in cats, but research suggests that dogs have low susceptibility to the virus, according to CBS News.
