A PUG in North Carolina has reportedly become the first dog in the United States to test positive for coronavirus.
Winston was said to have been tested for Covid-19 after the family that owns him fell ill with the killer virus.
The test on the dog was carried out by a team from Duke University who were probing whether coronavirus could spread to family pets, reports North Carolina’s WRAL-TV.
Dr Chris Woods, the head of the Duke study, said he believed it was the first known case of a dog testing positive for the virus in the US.
The dog’s owner, Heather McLean, from Chapel Hill, said Winston had become unwell, coughing and sneezing.
Heather said: “Pugs are a little unusual in that they cough and sneeze in a very strange way.
“So it almost seems like he was gagging.”
Worryingly, on one day the food-loving fido did not woolf down his breakfast.
She said: “And if you know pugs you know they love to eat.
“So that seemed very unusual.”
Heather’s son, Ben, said he was not surprised at all that Winston got sick.
He said: “(The dog) licks all of our dinner plates and sleeps in my mom’s bed, and we’re the ones who put our faces into his face.”
But irrepressible Winston recovered after being sick for a few days.
So far there have been a few alleged cases of dogs contracting the coronavirus in China.
Meanwhile at the Bronx Zoo, five lions and three tigers have tested positive for the illness.
But the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) insisted there was “no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus”.
The risk of animal-to-human transmission is low, the public health agency said.
And Heather’s advice to other pet owners — “don’t get too worried about it”.
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