CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WHDH) — A pug tested positive for the coronavirus in a new study, possibly making it the first dog in the United States to contract the potentially deadly virus.
A family of four, as well as their two dogs and one cat, underwent swab and blood tests on April 1 as part of Duke University’s Molecular and Epidemiological Study of Suspected Infection.
The results detected the virus that causes COVID-19 in one of the family’s dogs, Dr. Chris Woods, the principal investigator of the study, told WRAL.
He believes it’s the first known positive case in a dog in the nation.
The mother, father, and son also tested positive for the virus.
The son, Ben McLean, told the local news station that it makes sense that the family pet got the virus because he licks their dinner plates and puts his face against theirs.
His mother, Helen, is a pediatrician at Duke, and his father, Samuel, works in the emergency room at UNC Hospitals, making them more exposed to the virus.
The family says the infected dog, named Winston, was only sick for a few days and is doing much better.
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