Two dogs in Beijing have tested positive for swine flu in the second case of animals catching the disease in China along with pigs in the northeast, Chinese media said Sunday.
The A(H1N1) virus detected in the dogs was 99 percent identical to the one circulating in humans, the state-run Beijing Times reported, quoting China’s agriculture ministry.
The news comes 10 days after four pigs in China’s Heilongjiang province were diagnosed with the virus, which specialists said might have been caught from humans, the report said.
Countries including the United States, Canada and Chile have already reported cases of animals being infected with the A(H1N1) virus.
Citing an official at the Beijing municipal agriculture bureau, the report said the dogs probably contracted the virus from human sufferers who were in close contact with the canines.
An unidentified official said: “Dogs can infect nearby dogs after they catch A(H1N1) flu”.