Dogs could be the source of the next flu pandemic

Flu viruses, which are becoming increasingly diverse in dogs, could bring us another flu pandemic. The evolution of viruses in man’s best friend is increasingly complex, posing a potential threat to humans.

The ability of the virusoin influenza A for transmission between rotion in animal species and the possibility of transmission to humans poses an ongoing threat of pandemic. Birds and pigs are thought to be the mainowne reservoirs of roThe genetic diversity of the influenza virus. But researchers report that the evolution of the virusow influenza in psow is increasingly complex, posing a potential threat to humans.

Researchers from China and the U.S. made their alarming prediction in the pages of the journal „mBio".

In 1919, the infamous „Spanish flu” – An extremely dangerous strain of influenza virus, it killed an estimated 50-100 millionow osob. Researchers believe, it probably started with geese. Nearly a century poThen, in 2009, swine flu caused nearly 250,000. victims. This variant of the virus, as the name implies, was transmitted to humans via pigs, although it started in birdow. After jumping from avianow on pigs, the virus mutated to a form that is dangerous to humans. Researchers are sounding the alarm that the source of theothe source of the next pandemic could be dogs.

Influenza viruses have been observed in dogsoin for a long time, but only now has it been noticed that these viruses are changing and beginning to interact with each other. This may be the cause of their further mutations and they may consequently gain the ability to infect humans.

– Most influenza pandemics have been linked to pigs as an intermediary between avian and human viruses – Adolfo Garc saidía-Sastre of the Icahn School of Medicine, coopublication. – In this study, we identified influenza viruses thatore able to transmit from pigs to dogs – added.

The first case of influenza virus passing from horse to dog was identified 15 years ago. Five years ago it was discovered that the virus can also transmit between birds and dogs. To this list can be added roalso pigs, and all this happens very quickly.

Scientists have discovered that domestic dogs contain influenza viruses thatore can transmit to humans, potentially turning man’s best friend into one of our greatest threats. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York have sequenced the genomes of 16 virusesoin influenza collected from 800 psoin households in southern China between 2013 and 2015. They discovered that they contained segments similar to the H1N1 strain responsible for the 2009 outbreak in pigs. They also found new variations of the virus.

– What we have discovered is another set of virusesoin, whichore originated from pigs, originally from birdsoin, and are now able to transmit to dogs and mutate with other strains of the virus in dogsow – emphasized García-Sastre. – We found in psoin H1N1, H3N2 and H3N8 viruses. They are beginning to interact with each other. This is a similar situation to that whichora appeared in pigs about 10 years before the H1N1 pandemic – added the researcher while admitting that these viruses can mix with those present in dogsoin the CIV-H3N2 strains.

A similar scenario occurred in 2009. Bird flu has gained the ability to jump to pigs, in whichorych mixed with existing strains of the virus. The result is a strain capable of infecting unsuspecting people.

The question is whether this mix of vaccinesoin influenza, whichora is currently developing in dogsow, will be dangerous to humans if it ever gains the ability to jump to humans, which cannot be ruled out, given the amount of time that theorora is spent together by humans and dogs.

The dogs involved in the study came from a single region in China, which is one of the reasons they areow, for whichorych should not yet panic – the picture may not be the same around the world. However, the researchers call for preventive measures to reduce the spread of the virusoin influenza between dogs. One option to consider is vaccination programs.

– RoThe diversity of virusesow flu in dogsow has grown so much now that the type of combination thatore can arise is the potential risk of the virus jumping from dog to human – emphasized García-Sastre.