Flu Strain in Dogs Could Jump to Humans, According to Researchers

A new study indicates that “man’s best friend”– dogs – may be the originator of the next deadly flu outbreak to affect humans. Major disease threats up until recently have focused on birds and pigs as the major carriers of influenzas that can affect humans. Traditionally, dogs only tend to carry particular flu strains that are canine specific. However, the flu virus in dogs is steadily increasing in diversification, which makes them a greater potential source and transmitter of the disease.

Per a recent piece in The Independent:

“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.”

Although the virus has yet to make the transition from dogs to people, the author of the study infers that the necessary preventive steps should be taken by governments to mitigate the spread of the flu virus in canines.

As new strains of flu are contracted by other species, they can exchange genes with other diseases innate to their host, enhancing the ability of the virus to reproduce and inflict damage. When humans contract these new strains, the results can be devastating since the human body’s immune system has never encountered the threat before and can be slow to combat the infection.

Virus interactions poses serious pandemic threat

According to Professor Garcia-Sastre, H1N1 is the new virus now identified in canines. It comes from the identical strain precipitating the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

The strain started in birds and then progressed to pigs. However, it contains different outer coat markings – referred to as antigens – than were present in the 2009 epidemic. These antigens are identified by a human’s immune system to detect invaders.

As Professor Garcia-Sastre also states that the present viruses now recognized in canines are H1N1, H3N2, and H3N8. All three strains are in the process of interacting which reflects what occurred a decade earlier prior to the H1N1 outbreak.

Professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, Jonathan Ball, who is unassociated with the canine flu strain research study, has stated that although it would be difficult to second-guess the next virus outbreak, the possibility exists that dogs could serve as the source.

He states, “What this study provides is evidence that dogs can be naturally infected with multiple strains of viruses, most notably viruses from pigs, which are a known reservoir of influenza viruses that can infect us. This increases the potential threat of dogs acting as mixing vessels for the production of new strains of virus that might, just might, in the future spill over into humans.”

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