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Rise of dog flu strains could increase risk of next human pandemic, scientists warn
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Alex Matthews-King Health Correspondent
4 hours ago
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?What we have found is another set of viruses that come from swine that are originally avian in origin, and now they are jumping into dogs and have been reassorted with other viruses in dogs,? said Professor Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute.
?The diversity in dogs has increased so much now that the type of combinations of viruses that can be created in dogs represent potential risk for a virus to jump to a dog into a human.?
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He said the ?new virus? identified in dogs is H1N1 ? the same strain as the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
This strain began in birds, and passed into pigs, but the ?antigen? markings on its outer coat ? which our immune system uses to spot invaders ? are different from the 2009 outbreak.
?We now have H1N1, H3N2 and H3N8 in dogs,? Professor Garcia-Sastre added. ?They are starting to interact with each other. This is very reminiscent of what happened in swine 10 years before the H1N1 pandemic.?
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For the research, published in the mBio journal of the American Microbiological Society, the researchers analysed the genetics of 16 influenza viruses found in dogs in China?s southern Guangxi region.
Most of these dogs were pets who had been brought to the vet with respiratory conditions, but the large population of street dogs and the dog meat trade makes the spread of infection more likely than in other countries.
...
...
Alex Matthews-King Health Correspondent
4 hours ago
...
?What we have found is another set of viruses that come from swine that are originally avian in origin, and now they are jumping into dogs and have been reassorted with other viruses in dogs,? said Professor Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute.
?The diversity in dogs has increased so much now that the type of combinations of viruses that can be created in dogs represent potential risk for a virus to jump to a dog into a human.?
...
He said the ?new virus? identified in dogs is H1N1 ? the same strain as the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
This strain began in birds, and passed into pigs, but the ?antigen? markings on its outer coat ? which our immune system uses to spot invaders ? are different from the 2009 outbreak.
?We now have H1N1, H3N2 and H3N8 in dogs,? Professor Garcia-Sastre added. ?They are starting to interact with each other. This is very reminiscent of what happened in swine 10 years before the H1N1 pandemic.?
...
For the research, published in the mBio journal of the American Microbiological Society, the researchers analysed the genetics of 16 influenza viruses found in dogs in China?s southern Guangxi region.
Most of these dogs were pets who had been brought to the vet with respiratory conditions, but the large population of street dogs and the dog meat trade makes the spread of infection more likely than in other countries.
...
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