Can Dogs Get AIDS?

Human beings and animals have coexisted for a very long time. People in many places across the world rely on animals for food, livelihood, clothing, companionship, research, transit, and recreational activities. This shows that numerous people come into contact with animals on a regular basis, at home and away from it. It could be while traveling, visiting their natural habitat, or participating in outdoor activities. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is more than one pet in millions of American households. Data from the 2021-2022 National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA) showed that 70% of American homes, or about 90.5 million families, own a pet. This is an increase from 67% in 2019 and 56% in American homes in 1988, the first year the study was performed. As you may have guessed, dogs are the most popular pets in the United States, with at least one dog owned by about 69 million homes.

The term “zoonotic diseases” or “zoonoses” refers to illnesses that can sometimes be contracted from animals and then transferred to humans. Viral, bacterial, parasitic, and fungal pathogens are the main culprits behind zoonotic illnesses.

These microorganisms have the ability to infect both humans and animals with a wide range of ailments, from minor illnesses to severe illnesses and even death. Depending on the zoonotic disease, animals can often seem healthy even when they are harboring pathogens that can make humans ill.

Zoonoses make up a significant portion of all newly discovered infectious diseases as well as many already known ones. In fact, animals are estimated to spread more than 6 out of every 10 infectious diseases known to humans, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in humans are contracted from animals.

Salmonellosis and the Ebola virus disease are two examples of zoonoses that can repeatedly cause disease outbreaks. Others, like the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, have the capacity to spread pandemics over the world. 

The common ways through which diseases can be transferred from animals to humans include direct contact with the body fluids of an infected animal, contact with items and surfaces that have been contaminated by the animal, vector-borne, contaminated food, and water.

Practicing good hand hygiene, food safety, and staying safe around pets are some of the best preventive measures against zoonotic diseases. 

Can Dogs Get STDs?

The short answer is yes. Canine venereal diseases are contracted, carried, and transmitted by dogs. Dogs can contract canine STDs from one another through sexual contact, but puppies delivered to infected moms are disproportionately affected, suffering the worst effects. Canine herpesvirus (CHV), canine transmissible venereal tumor, and brucellosis are the three main STDs that infect dogs.

Dogs can contract brucellosis through sexual interaction or through contact with the bodily fluids of infected dogs. They can also become hosts for the bacteria by coming into touch with or consuming infected urine. A non-infected dog can potentially catch the illness by coming into touch with placental tissue from a failed pregnancy or with stillborn puppies whose mothers were infected. The most vulnerable dogs are those that are strays and without access to routine medical care or spay/neuter operations. So, domestic pets won’t likely be affected. 

Perhaps the most common dog STD is the canine herpes virus, often known as CHV. Just like with brucellosis, symptomatic dogs are primarily wild or feral but otherwise healthy. Infections in sexually active canines put breeding populations at considerable risk, nevertheless. In a condition known as fading puppy syndrome, pups between the ages of birth and four weeks may catch the viral infection while still in the womb or soon after delivery.

Canine transmissible venereal tumor or CTVT is an infectious cancerous condition not caused by bacteria or viruses like the two others. It can be passed from dog to dog by licking, coming into touch with body fluids from open wounds, or if the disease is still internal, during sexual activity. 

The external symptoms of canine cancer won’t appear until the disease has spread within. If the tumors are not found and treated, they will continue to develop and grow internally even as they start to show up externally. Both male and female genitalia as well as a dog’s face can develop tumors as the condition worsens.

The only zoonotic canine STD that can pass from dog to human is brucellosis. According to the CDC, consuming unpasteurized dairy is the main cause of brucellosis in people, and there is very little likelihood that the disease can spread from a person to a dog. 

However, it can occur in extremely rare situations when humans who regularly interact with pregnant dogs, such as veterinarians or dog breeders touch or come in contact with bodily fluids or tissues that have been infected.

Can Dogs Contract AIDS From Humans?

Many dog parents often worry if HIV/AIDS can be transmitted to dogs from humans, especially if a dog bites an infected person or licks their sweat. Interestingly, HIV started off as zoonotic strains before evolving into forms that only affect humans.

To put it simply, your dog can’t contract HIV or AIDS. A dog won’t become infected no matter how exposed it is. The HIV virus is likewise highly delicate. It doesn’t last very long in the environment, and a dog’s mouth isn’t exactly a welcoming environment. 

The feline leukemia virus, or FeLV, infects cats and is one of many viruses that cause diseases similar to AIDS. However, these viruses can only infect one type of animal and can’t spread to humans or other animals. FeLV, for instance, exclusively affects cats.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the advanced stage of HIV infection. The immune system’s CD4 cells (CD4 T lymphocytes), which work to fight infections, are attacked and destroyed by HIV. Thus, the body’s ability to fight off infections and some cancers is compromised by the decrease of CD4 cells. HIV infection can progress to AIDS if left untreated because it gradually weakens the immune system.

The diagnosis of AIDS is based on a CD4 count of fewer than 200 cells per cubic millimeter or the presence of opportunistic infections, related cancers, or both. The likelihood that HIV will lead to AIDS varies greatly from person to person and is influenced by a number of variables such as the body’s capacity to combat HIV, the strain of HIV itself, as some are drug-resistant, the person’s genetic predisposition to specific strains of HIV, age, and access to top-notch healthcare.

How Is HIV/AIDS Transmitted?

According to the CDC, about 1.2 million people were diagnosed with HIV in 2019. 68% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States and its dependent regions in 2020 were the result of male-to-male sexual contact. In the same year, 22% of all HIV cases were related to heterosexual contact. Sharing needles or syringes used for injecting drugs with an HIV-positive person accounted for 7% of the cases recorded. 

HIV can spread when bodily fluids carrying the virus come into touch with a porous bodily barrier or when tiny tears exist in moist tissues in areas like the genitals. These body fluids include semen, blood, breast milk, vaginal fluids, rectal fluids, and pre-seminal fluids. 

Ways HIV/AIDS Isn’t Transmitted

AIDS stems from HIV which  literally means “human immunodeficiency virus.” HIV cannot multiply outside of a human host and does not survive for very long in the environment. To reiterate, dogs cannot contract or spread HIV through their feces, excrement, or any other part of their body. 

Other ways through which HIV/AIDS can’t be transmitted include saliva, tears or sweat, sharing utensils or toilet seats, ticks, mosquitoes, or other insects, through the air, sharing hugs or handshakes, touching or other sexual activity that doesn’t involve the transfer of bodily fluids.

Conclusion

AIDS is a retrovirus. It is important to remember that canines cannot contract the human retrovirus and that no strain or kind of retroviral infection has yet been connected to dogs. 

Although dogs can’t get HIV/AIDS, they may become sick if their immune system is overworked or they destroy their own bodily tissue. These indicators could be mistaken for HIV disease symptoms. 

Some immune-deficiency diseases in dogs include Lupus, Immune-mediated neutropenia, Complement-3 deficiency, Leukocyte adhesion deficiency, and Pelger-Huet anomaly. 

Dogs who have immune-deficiency disorders often experience serious health problems. The body’s ability to fight off infections is highly endangered by these illnesses. Immunoglobulin or phagocytosis deficiencies may be present in canines with immune-deficiency illnesses.

Reduced immunity, either in the immunoglobulin or the phagocytes of the affected dogs, is the cause of immune-deficiency illnesses in canines. It could be a primary illness or result from a pre-existing medical issue. 

Make sure you get veterinary assistance if your pooch shows signs of fatigue, loss of appetite, lethargy, and other symptoms because these conditions could be fatal if ignored. 

For preliminary lab work, your veterinarian will run blood tests, a biochemistry profile, and a urinalysis. The bloodwork will show the doctor how well-functioning your dog’s immune system is. Depending on the breed of your dog, he might also decide to conduct genetic testing. A primary immune-deficiency disease diagnosis will result from this.

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