The whole family is sneezing and sick leave is also piling up at work. Just in time for the cold winter time, the flu is making a comeback. We spend days in bed with a runny nose and a scratchy throat – the dog is always by our side as a faithful companion. But is it harmless if the four-legged friend lies so close to us and possibly licks our face solicitously? After all, we are sick and some influenza viruses are also found in the animal kingdom. So we ask ourselves the question: Can I infect my dog with the flu? That’s what science says.
How likely am I to catch my dog with the flu?
As the portal “geo.de” reports, no four-legged friend in Germany has ever fallen ill because his mistress or master has the flu. Thank God! Because that’s what it looks like around the globe. that itself a dog with the human influenza virus is not ruled out in principle.
“Investigations, especially from China and the USA, show that virus transmissions from influenza-infected people to dogs do occur. There is sporadic proof of this from virus detections in the animals,” explains Prof. Dr. Timm Harder, head of the laboratory at Institute for virus diagnostics from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, opposite “geo.de”. “But they are more common indirect evidence of such infections by detecting antibodies in dogs. Depending on the study and virus subtype, antibody-positive dogs range from 1-2 percent to 10-20 percent,” he continues.
So we can breathe easy. the The chances of you catching your dog with the flu are very small. In addition, viruses were detected in the animals, but these were do not necessarily indicate a disease. That means dogs can be potentially susceptible to influenza viruses, but don’t necessarily have to get sick.
Dog flu – these are the most common symptoms
That doesn’t mean that dogs can’t get the flu, too. But the disease in the fur noses is then called “dog flu“. Its symptoms are very similar to those of human influenza. This includes:
- a runny nose
- Cough
- Fever
- loss of appetite
- fatigue
If your dog is sick, you don’t have to worry about your own health. Humans cannot contract dog flu. So you can cuddle and cuddle your furry friend a lot so that he gets fit again quickly. However, you should make sure he stays away from other dogs because of canine flu very contagious for the animals is.
And vice versa: Can my dog infect me with flu viruses?
Dogs can therefore definitely become infected with human influenza viruses. Does that mean that they can also transfer them to us humans, so that we get sick? In Germany this case has not yet occurred. In theory, however, this scenario cannot be completely ruled out.
Normally, we pass on flu viruses to other people. It is the same with dogs. Diseased dogs can infect other dogs in the household or while playing in the park. In some cases, the Influenza viruses even spread among different animal species. For example, mutant influenza viruses transmitted from birds to dogs have been observed in China, Thailand, and South Korea. In America, even horses passed the disease on to greyhounds. So far, however, there has been no danger to humans.