Can my gecko catch the Coronavirus?

GeckoFanboy

Member
I think it's a very good question.

They say it transfers from bat to human, can it go from human to gecko, or is this strictly a mammal/human virus?
 

skadi.skinks

New member
I would have to say no-- they are coldblooded animals whereas bats and humans are both warmblooded. It's much harder for a virus to affect both warm and cold blooded creatures, and I doubt that COVID-19 has an effect on them.

Given that viruses can live on surfaces though, I'd recommend making sure that your hands are clean before handling your reptile or touching the enclosure since we don't usually think about wiping down a tank with Clorox to keep illnesses from spreading.
 

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
No need to worry.
Here's a quote from "The Conversation", a reliable, non-partisan, not-for-profit media site. It's trustworthy.
Even though it talks about snakes infecting humans, it works in reverse, too, as well as working for your gecko.

"Though snakes were early suspects as the source of the Wuhan coronavirus, reptiles have never been linked to any of the World Health Organisation’s top ten infectious diseases which pose the greatest threat of epidemics.

"One reason is straightforward. Snakes are cold-blooded (more correctly “ectothermic”) and have a very different physiology to humans. Viruses co-evolve highly specialised relationships with their hosts and are often species-specific.

"Occasionally, a chance mutation might allow a virus to infect another species, but the more different the new and old hosts are to each other, the less likely that is.

"Compared with transmission between mammals, or even from birds to mammals, the probability of a virus crossing from a cold-blooded reptile to a warm-blooded human is remote."


I wouldn't recommend reading the link if you're the least bit squeamish.
https://theconversation.com/snakes-...ont-help-the-fight-against-coronavirus-133075
 
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