I was reading last week about the Spanish nurse, Theresa Romero Ramos, who contracted Ebola and how her beloved dog, Excalibur, was summarily executed by the Spanish authorities while she was in the hospital and her husband was in quarantine.
Yeah, I know, it's just a dog, but think of the human aspect. Her husband, Javier, is facing losing his wife and has already lost his dog. His family could cease to exist due to a rash decision by Spanish authorities. There are no documented cases of Ebola spreading from dogs to people. One study published in 2005 suggests dogs can get the disease without showing symptoms. That study looked at dogs in Africa who were tested for Ebola antibodies. The dogs were presumably exposed by eating animals and possibly corpses that were infected, which is not likely to happen with a household pet, but that's all it took for the Spanish authorities to obtain a swift court order to put down Excalibur who was surrounded by strangers and undoubtedly petrified at the end of its life.
So when I first saw the picture of the Dallas nurse Nina Pham and her dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Bentley, the first thing I thought of was Excalibur. Luckily, more rational Dallas officials, namely Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, have decided to take a different approach. I applaud the Dallas officials, especially Judge Jenkins who said, "When I met with her parents, they said, 'This dog is important to her, Judge. Don't let anything happen to the dog.' "If that dog has to be the boy in the plastic bubble, we're going to take good care of that dog."
I think since they can test for antibodies (there is no Ebola test yet for dogs) and dogs with the antibodies don't show symptoms, that should be studied not feared. There is much to learn about the infection between species and the fact that dogs so far have been asymptomatic. A veterinary study could be of great value.
