Fearful of Fido? How Our Domestic Pets Spread Viruses

We all love our furry friends at home. I know I couldn’t take my hands off the new Portuguese Water Dog puppy we brought to our house over Winter Break. As we’ve learned, zoonoses is a method that viruses use to produce genetic diversity and reproduce in a greater number and variety of hosts. In the news, we constantly hear about the spread of diseases like Ebola from bats, Zika from mosquitoes, Hanta from rats, (MERS from camels?). But do our mammalian companions also contribute to the propagation of viruses? A team of researchers sought to answer this question, looking at nucleotide sequences from viruses identified in domestic mammals found both in people’s homes and on farms from 1950-2019. The researchers also looked at other species for comparison. They proceeded to use computer models to find networks and associations of viruses found both in animals and in humans. After analysis, they found that domestic animals do in fact play a central role in carrying and spreading viruses between one another and even humans. As expected, RNA viruses were less species specific than DNA viruses. The main culprits were Carnivora (which would include our cat and dog friends) and Chipotera or bats (which we don’t have to worry about bringing in our homes as much). As an additional finding, they discovered that primate species can share both DNA and RNA viruses easily. Does this mean we should all quarantine our pets at home? While this was the first major study to really look at the sharing of viruses between domestic animals and humans, there is still no need to freak out. But the data do remind us to be cognizant of emerging viruses in animals and maintain surveillance of those species closest to us…

~ Avi Kaye

Article: Wells, K. et al. Distinct spread of DNA and RNA viruses among mammals amid prominent role of domestic species. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2019.

https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13045