Two viruses emerging from animals could be the next ‘major’ public health threats to American families, scientists warn

One has already spread in humans in Arkansas and across Asia

Two emerging viruses could become the United States’ next big public health threats, scientists warned Wednesday.

The animal-borne influenza D virus and canine coronavirus have been flying under the radar.

Now, conditions are ripe for the viruses to spread more widely among humans, researchers around the country caution in a new article.

“Our review of the literature indicates these two viruses pose respiratory disease threats to humans, yet little has been done to respond to or prevent infection from these viruses,” Dr. John Lednicky, a research professor at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, said in a statement.

“If these viruses evolve the capacity to easily transmit person to person, they may be able to cause epidemics or pandemics since most people won’t have immunity to them.”

What’s the next big public health threat in the U.S.? Scientists say two animal-borne viruses could be ones to watch (Getty Images)

Influenza D virus

First discovered in 2011, the influenza D virus is largely tied to infections in pigs, cows and livestock.

However, there have also been infections found in deer, giraffes and kangaroos.

It is believed to contribute to bovine respiratory disease, which is the most common and expensive disease affecting the North American beef cattle industry, costing an estimated $1 billion each year.

Symptoms in cows include trouble breathing, nasal discharge, fever and coughing, according to Canada’s Beef Cattle Research Council.

Previous studies of cattle workers in Colorado and Florida showed as many as 97 percent carried protective influenza D virus antibodies, suggesting they had been exposed.

The exposures have not led to symptoms of illness so far, but there is cause for concern about the virus evolving. A strain of the virus in China has developed the ability to spread between people.

Tests are not routinely performed for the virus, so it’s unknown how much of an effect it already has in the U.S.

Canine coronavirus

Canine coronavirus, also known as CCoV, has been associated with serious infections in humans.

The virus has been linked to pneumonia hospitalizations in Southeast Asia and fever and discomfort in a person who had traveled from Florida to Haiti in 2017, as well as gastrointestinal illness in dogs.

The same strain in a child hospitalized in Malaysia – nearly identical to the HuCCoV_Z19Haiti found in the traveler – was found in people with respiratory illness living in Thailand, Vietnam and in Arkansas in 2010, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, demonstrating that it is already circulating across continents.

Notably, this virus is not the same as the virus that led to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The uncertain takeaway

Continued and widespread outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu have resulted in milk testing across the country (Getty Images)

The viruses have real potential to trigger outbreaks, the scientists assert.

They say there needs to be better virus monitoring, more reliable testing and investment in treatments and vaccines.

“Our knowledge about the viruses’ epidemiology and clinical manifestations are limited to a modest number of research studies,” the authors wrote.

“Even so, the limited data regarding these novel, newly detected viruses indicate that they are a major threat to public health.”

The researchers’ plea comes as bird flu continues to rip through commercial flocks and other birds around the country, with new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing more birds affected this month than in December.

The spread of H5N1 influenza resulted in sky-high egg prices and milk testing across the country last year.

Experts had previously warned that it would only be a matter of time before bird flu mutated and the virus was able to spread person to person – although that has yet to occur.

“If it continues to be widely circulating in poultry, mammals and humans, it may certainly one day evolve into something very serious,” Kelvin To, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, told The New York Times earlier this month.