New Research Suggests Dogs Could Give Us The Flu And Other Viruses

We love our dogs, and we know that they love us too. For years, we’ve also been told that it’s practically impossible for a dog to get us sick, but that may be changing.

In southern China, two dogs have been found to be carrying a mutant strain of the influenza C virus. That is a virus that typically infects people according to Scientific American reports.

Although it is mostly children who have this illness, and they spread it to each other, typically at school, these dogs may now be carrying the flu. The flu could spread from one dog to another, but there is some concern that humans may be in danger as well.

An animal virologist at Cornell University, Colin Parrish, said that dogs and cats have largely been ignored as potential reservoirs or hosts.

Although that is true, if influenza C becomes more and more common in dogs, then monitoring may be necessary to stay on top of it in the future.

NPR also recently reported that a new type of coronavirus, CCoV-HuPn-2018, is transmissible by dogs to people. At this point, the strain is only found in Arkansas, Malaysia, Haiti, and Thailand.

Most people are surprised by the possibility that dog and cat coronaviruses could possibly infect humans. NPR notes, a virologist at Ohio State University, Anastasia Vlasova, said: “Dog and cat coronaviruses were not thought to infect people.”

She agrees with other scientists, including John Lednicky, who works at the University of Florida. He said: “[This coronavirus] probably circulates widely around the world, but no one has paid attention to it.”

In addition, another pet spread disease could come from tics that are pulled from cats. The heartland virus may not be fully understood, but as the disease mimics the symptoms of the flu, it may have been misdiagnosed in the past.