COVID-19 and animals: What do we know?

ABSTRACT

Coronaviruses, which were generally considered harmless to humans before 2003, have appeared again with a pandemic threatening the world since December 2019 after the epidemics of SARS and MERS. It is known that transmission from person to person is the most important way to spread. However, due to the widespread host diversity, a detailed examination of the role of animals in this pandemic is essential to effectively fight against the outbreak. Although coronavirus infections in pets are known to be predominantly related to the gastrointestinal tract, it has been observed that there are human-to-animal transmissions in this outbreak and some animals have similar symptoms to humans. Although animal-to-animal transmission has been shown to be possible, there is no evidence of animal-to-human transmission.