A new dog flu virus that has killed some racing greyhounds made an unusual jump from horses to dogs and may threaten pets but not people, experts said on Monday.
BEIJING, Sep. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A flu virus normally found in horses has spread to racing greyhound in the US, causing some deaths.
The journal Science reported Monday that the respiratory disease has swept greyhound racetracks across the country as well as causing illness in some pet dogs.
The virus, called H3N8, causes a syndrome similar to "kennel cough" in dogs and is spread much the same way as the flu spreads among humans.
There is no evidence that it can infect people, said Dr. Ruben Donis of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who has published a report on the new virus in the journal Science.
"We must keep in mind that this H3N8 equine influenza virus has been in horses for over 40 years. In all these years we have never been able to document a single case of human infection with this virus," Donis was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"At this point there is no reason to panic," he said, adding that in lab dishes, anyway, the virus could be controlled with antiviral drugs.
The new finding "concerns a very rare event of considerable scientific interest with regards to understanding influenza virus transmission across species barriers," Donis said, "and that's something that's on everyone's mind these days for a variety of reasons." Enditem
(Agencies)
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