ArcaMax

Q: Can dogs and cats get the Ebola virus? If the answer is no, as I believe it is, why did they kill that dog from Spain? -- S.H., Chicago, IL

Q: I'm worried about a full-out Ebola epidemic eventually coming to America; it's inevitable. And since so many people in this country live with pets, what will happen to them? -- J.K., Lubbock, TX

Q: Will this be how it happens in America: When a family member is diagnosed with Ebola, pets will be killed and the rest of the family quarantined? I'm not sure as cases (of Ebola) mount that this is a viable plan. What is the plan for animals? -- T.A., Louisville, KY

A: The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is working side by side with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and various public health officials regarding the concerns expressed here about Ebola and animals -- from the pets who share our beds to food-producing animals.

Dr. Ron DeHaven, AVMA CEO, says, "Like you, we've received many inquiries; certainly the public is concerned. We're working to create a specific protocol, though there remain many unknowns."

DeHaven continues, "What's challenging is that we don't know a lot about how Ebola behaves in various species. We do believe dogs can get Ebola. Dogs appear to mount an immune response so they don't get sick. The big question then is if they don't get sick from the virus, are they capable of spreading the virus to people or other animals? These are questions that we just don't have answers to."

Personally, rather than euthanizing the dog belonging to the Spanish victim of Ebola (earlier In October), I think it might have been more beneficial to human medicine and obviously for the dog's family to quarantine the animal.

After a necropsy (animal autopsy) is conducted, there's nothing more to be learned from a dead animal. A living dog may have offered clues. For example, if physicians and veterinarians can learn why dogs don't get sick from Ebola, this knowledge could be the key to creating more effective drugs and a vaccine for people. Also, had that dog been allowed to live, more might have been discovered regarding virus transmission from animals to people.

A Dallas, TX, county judge took a completely different route from the judge in Spain who ordered the dog there be euthanized. Instead, Dallas Ebola-stricken health care worker Nina Pham's dog -- a King Charles Spaniel named Bentley -- has been moved to an undisclosed location and is under the care of Dallas Animal Services.

DeHaven warns, "Let's keep this all in perspective. In the U.S., human cases remain very isolated, and there have been no pets identified with Ebola."

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