Pets in Voluntary Household Quarantine

utbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have resulted in increased discussion about community-based infection control measures, including voluntary quarantine. In the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto, Canada, at least 23,000 persons participated in voluntary quarantine in their homes because of possible exposure (1). Quarantined persons were told to remain at home, not allow anyone to visit, wear a mask when in the same room as other members of the household, and sleep in a separate room (2). These protocols were developed to decrease the risk of transmitting the SARS coronavirus to persons in the household. This situation highlights 1 aspect of community-based quarantine that has been overlooked: the potential role of household pets in disease transmission. When SARS was first identified, potential host animal species were unknown, as was the risk of transmission between animals and humans. Despite the severity of SARS, the lack of information on the potential for inter-species transmission, and the potential implications of animals acting as reservoirs of infection, we are unaware of quarantine protocols that consider household pets. No specific data are available on pet ownership by quarantined persons; however, based on the prevalence of pet ownership in Canada, we assume that thousands of quarantined persons had household pets. Whether any precautions were taken to reduce the risk of SARS transmission to pets is unclear. Presumably, household pets had prolonged close contact with many quarantined persons. Additionally, many of these pets may have had close contact with other persons, both inside and outside the home, and contact with other animals. We now know that domestic cats and ferrets are susceptible to experimental infection by the SARS coronavirus and that they can transmit this virus to other cats and ferrets (3). What would have happened if cats were naturally infected in households and could transmit infection to humans or other animals? Were measures in place to reduce the risk for this transmission and detect it had it occurred? If SARS had established itself in the feral cat population in affected cities, would it have been controllable? Although SARS is the most recent example of an emerging disease for which quarantine was implemented, the potential for household transmission through pets should be considered in any new disease when information is incomplete regarding potential hosts and the risk for interspecies transmission. If one considers that an estimated 75% of transmissible emerging diseases are zoonoses (4), the relevance …