Nearly 50 goats have been isolated by Karnataka’s Department of Animal husbandry and Veterinary Services after their goatherd tested positive for Covid-19 in Tumakuru’s Godakere amid fear that the livestock may have fallen prey to the infection too.
Reportedly, four goats died just days after the goatherd and another person tested positive for the virus in the village.
It has been informed by the residents to the animal husbandry officials that the goats had shown symptoms of respiratory problems.
However, on testing, the samples from the cattle came positive only for seasonal diseases common among livestock, said H. Basavarajendra, Commissioner, Animal Husbandry.
“People were apprehensive after the goats died. We have tested four-five goats… These are not COVID symptoms. A sample of the neighboring flock has also has been taken for testing,” said Basavarajendra.
The officials said the animals have already been separated from the others to pacify the panicked villagers
“We have sent the samples to a specialized testing laboratory in Bhopal to allay fears of people during this time. We would like to stress that in India, to date, no livestock has been affected by Covid-19,” he added.
The commissioner also said some of the goat samples were also sent to Bengaluru’s Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals. Veterinary experts said the samples revealed that the cattle have symptoms of Peste des Petits Ruminants (also known as goat plague) and mycoplasmic infection. These are common among livestock and also require quarantining, the officials said.
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Dr. B.L. Chidananda, head of Animal Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences, informed a news agency t that there has been no evidence to prove that zoonotic viruses like Covid-19 spread from humans to animals. Zoonotic viruses are transmitted from animals to people.
“The villagers have limited knowledge and were quite scared. As such, there has been no transmission of corona from humans to animals,” he said.
It is yet unclear to scientists which animals transmitted the coronavirus causing SARS-CoV-2 pathogen to humans, but genome sequencing of the virus has shown that it’s related to two other deadly coronaviruses that originated in bats.
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