Dallas health officials announced Wednesday, Oct. 22 that Bentley, the year-old King Charles spaniel owned by Ebola-infected nurse Nina Pham, has tested negative for the virus.
Sana Syed, a public information officer for the city of Dallas, said that the dog will be tested again for accuracy before the end of his 21-day quarantine period.
Last week, Bentley was removed from the 26-year-old nurse’s apartment and placed under quarantine. Later, he was transitioned to a special kennel for proper collection of his urine and feces to study, and then returned to isolation.
“This is the least invasive and safest way to conduct the testing process for Bentley,” Dallas officials said in a news release. “Bentley will be monitored for a full 21-day period, similar to people exposed to the Ebola virus.”
Friends and family of Pham, as well as another nurse from the same hospital who was recently infected, have already been tested. One, a close-contact of Pham’s, has proactively placed herself in quarantine.
It is unclear what would happen if Bentley were to test positive for Ebola. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are no known cases of dogs or cats spreading the Ebola virus.
Last week, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said that Bentley would not be euthanized the way Excalibur, the dog belonging to Teresa Romero (a Spanish nursing assistant who had Ebola) was put down by Madrid health authorities, despite a viral social media campaign to save his life. According to reports, Romero does not yet know about her dog, nor is she aware of the global interest in her case.
“If that dog has to be ‘The Boy in the Plastic Bubble’,” Jenkins said, “we’re going to take good care of that dog.”
“We are hopeful that Bentley’s journey will contribute to what we know about Ebola and dogs, since they play such an important role in so many people’s lives,” said Dallas Animal Services manager Dr. Cate McManus in a statement.
Last week, Pham was transferred to a specialized treatment center at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. She is listed in “good condition,” and continues to hear regular updates on Bentley’s state of health.
Syed, who has seen Bentley at his special kennel during treatment, tweeted updates and pictures of the young dog. “Bentley is doing great! Turns out he likes butt rubs. His sample was sent to a lab yesterday.”
(With reports from Yahoo and NBC News.)
