Scientists have known for decades that coronaviruses can cause disease in dogs, but until now there has been no evidence that canine coronaviruses can infect people. Many of these viruses are believed to have originated in bats, but can jump from bats to humans, either directly or after a stopover in another animal host. In addition to SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes Covid-19, there are coronaviruses that cause SARS, MERS and the common cold. Seven coronaviruses are currently known to infect humans. If we can catch them early and find out that these viruses are successful in the human host, then we can mitigate them before they become a pandemic virus.” Gregory Gray, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Duke University who is one of the study’s authors. “I think the key message here is that these things are probably happening all over the world, where people come in contact with animals, especially intense contact, and we’re not picking them up,” said Dr. But the finding, which was published on Thursday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, highlights the need to more proactively search for viruses that could jump from animals into humans, the scientists said. The study does not prove that the pneumonia was caused by the virus, which may not be capable of spreading between people. It is not yet clear whether this specific virus poses a serious threat to humans, the researchers stress. If the virus is confirmed to be a human pathogen, it would be the eighth coronavirus, and the first canine coronavirus, known to cause disease in humans.

Scientists have discovered a new canine coronavirus in a child who was hospitalized with pneumonia in Malaysia in 2018.

Can dogs transmit coronavirus