A dog in North Carolina who died after suffering from an “acute illness” earlier this month has tested positive for coronavirus, officials said Monday.
The death could mark a rare, potentially fatal case of COVID-19 in a pet, although it is not yet clear if there were other underlying circumstances that contributed to his death.
The dog was taken to NC State Veterinary Hospital in Raleigh on Aug. 3 after showing signs of respiratory distress earlier that day, the North Carolina Department of Public Health and Human Services said in a statement.
The person who brought the animal to the hospital told staff members that a family member had previously tested positive for coronavirus, although a later test gave negative results, the department said.
With removal of patients, the department did not provide any additional information about the dog or the person who brought it to the hospital.
The dog died the same day, a spokeswoman for the department said. Samples taken from the dog that were tested in a diagnostic lab returned a positive result, a result confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Laboratory for Veterinary Services, the statement said.
Investigators are still trying to determine why it died, the statement said.
Only a handful of animals in the United States have contracted the disease, according to a list maintained by the Department of Agriculture. Most of these infections occur after contact with people who have had coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The department says the risk of animals spreading the disease to humans remains low.
As of Aug. 7, when the Department of Agriculture’s list was last updated, it had confirmed 13 cases among dogs in eight states, including a previous positive antibody test in North Carolina. Several cats have also contracted the disease, according to the list. That’s what eight lions and tigers did at the Bronx Zoo.
Last month, National Geographic reported that the first dog to test positive in the United States – a 7-year-old German shepherd from New York named Buddy – died on July 11, six weeks after it was confirmed that he had the disease.
The magazine reported that Buddy had lymphoma when he died and it is unclear how much the cancer and the virus contributed to his death.
Michael San Filippo, a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association, said most dogs that have contracted the disease are asymptomatic if they show only clear signs of infection.
That “seems to indicate that this is not a big problem for dogs,” he said. “But we need to learn more, such as how it can be combined with other circumstances to cause more serious problems. We still recommend caution with keeping pets away from people who are ill, and to practice social distance with your pet and other pets and people outside your household. “
