"A New Study Says ‘Dog Flu’ Could Be The Next Swine Flu. How Worried Should You Really Be?" - Sarah Klein
In a new study published in the journal mBio, researchers are detailing an increase in what’s called the diversity of flu viruses in dogs. Different strains of flu virus are mixing and evolving, making it more likely that one version could eventually infect a human. Plus, the researchers also found evidence that the virus can spread from pigs to pups, which makes this whole situation similar to the developments that led to widespread swine flu in 2009. "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,” said study author Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, PhD, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute and professor of microbiology, medicine, and infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
- Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, PhD, Director, Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, Professor, Microbiology, Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
