The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has no plans to test Ebola patient Nina Pham’s pet dog for the deadly virus, and Dallas officials are unsure if they will do so.

The dog, Bentley, was taken from the young nurse's apartment to an undisclosed location Monday by contractors wearing protective suits.

The Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center posted to Facebook a photo taken outside the dog’s temporary home, showing a pond and the skyline of Dallas in the distance. It appears the location is West of the city.

“We would not test” the dog for Ebola, says Benjamin Haynes, a spokesman for the CDC’s infectious disease team. “Any decisions about the dog would be between the owner and Texas or Dallas County health officials.”

There are no documented cases of dogs spreading Ebola, but there is evidence that dogs can be infected with the virus.

City of Dallas spokeswoman Sana Syed, who was on-site when the purse-sized dog was relocated, says local and state officials are trying to determine if it’s possible to test the animal for Ebola.

Syed says the current plan is to quarantine the dog for 21 days – the maximum incubation period for the virus in humans. Officials are looking at whether hair or blood tests would be suitable for the dog, she says.

Workers will enter the facility where Bentley is housed twice a day to feed him and a veterinarian will come once a day to make sure the dog is healthy.

“Everyone who will be coming to contact with him will be in protective gear,” Syed says. “We’re being told to treat him like human case. We’re learning as we go.”



Bentley has been provided with toys and comfortable bedding, Syed says.

Humans infected with Ebola are only contagious when they display symptoms, health experts say. Some animals, such as fruit bats, carry the virus but do not become ill. The bats are assumed to be the virus’ natural reservoir, meaning they keep copies of the virus between outbreaks in other species.

A dog belonging to Spanish nurse Teresa Romero Ramos, who was diagnosed with Ebola after caring for infected patients, was euthanized as a precaution last week. Furious animal rights activists and social media users tried in vain to halt the killing.

The World Health Organization says Ebola outbreaks in people begin when a human contracts the virus from the bodily fluids of infected animals such as bats, apes, monkeys, antelopes or porcupines.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a representative of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, says it’s an open question if dogs can infect humans with Ebola.

“We know that dogs can get infected with Ebola from prior outbreaks,” he says.

Adalja notes, however, that a 2005 CDC report on an Ebola outbreak in Gabon found only antibodies in dogs and not the virus itself. That suggests dogs are not potential reservoirs for the virus, he says, meaning a lick on the face from Bentley may not spread the disease.

Adalja nonetheless hopes authorities will use the opportunity to study the effects of the virus in the dog.

Spokespeople for the Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center and the Texas Department of State Health Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



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Pham was diagnosed with Ebola on Saturday, after working as part of the medical team that cared for Thomas Duncan, who died Wednesday. Duncan traveled to Dallas from Liberia before showing symptoms, and was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S.