1st suspected case of human-to-dog monkeypox transmission leads CDC to update guidance on the virus - CBS News

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its monkeypox guidance to include dogs as animals that can catch the virus.

The men started showing symptoms of monkeypox a few days after sleeping with other partners. .

Twelve days after they first showed symptoms, their pet dog — a four-year-old Italian greyhound — also developed lesions and then tested positive for the monkeypox virus.

The men reported having slept alongside their dog, though they said they had been careful to prevent him from coming into contact with any other people or pets from when their own monkeypox symptoms began.

Captive primates in Europe have also contracted monkeypox from coming into contact with imported animals that were sick, but infection in domestic pets like dogs and cats had not previously been reported.

The CDC recommends that people with monkeypox avoid close contact with animals, and that pets that have not been exposed to the virus be cared for by friends or family in another home until the owner or owners fully recover