Humans pass more viruses to animals than we catch from them, scientists say

Humans pass on more viruses to animals than we catch from them, according to UCL researchers. Photo: AFP

From chikungunya to echinococcosis to bird flu, animals can transmit many diseases to humans. But the reverse is also true. In fact, British research shows that we too pass viruses on to wild and domestic animals.

Researchers at University College London made this discovery after analysing nearly 12 million viral genomes deposited in public databases. They were thus able to reconstruct the trajectories where viruses jumped from one host to another to infect another vertebrate species, within the framework of around 30 viral families.