Ask a Vet: People with AIDS should take precautions when having pets

Can dogs spread AIDS?

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is the end stage of chronic HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

Research has shown that the virus in humans probably originated from an immunodeficiency virus detected in African monkeys. Based on these findings, HIV has its roots as a zoonotic (capable of spreading from animals to people), but HIV is not zoonotic. Humans do not contract the virus from dogs and dogs don't get HIV from people. Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are in the same family of viruses as HIV, known as retroviruses, but there is no...