3 ms·

> we are but one small mutation away from some very bad disease jumping from cows, pigs (very likely due to anatomical resemblance), fowl (chickens) or pets suc

> we are but one small mutation away from some very bad disease jumping from cows, pigs (very likely due to anatomical resemblance), fowl (chickens) or pets such as cats or dogs to us humans with disastrous consequences. If a simple mutation was all it took, this would have happened already. Please stop fear mongering. Since the main thread is about dogs, most(all?) dog pathogens are very much incompatible with humans. In other words: there are almost 8 billion humans already. Birds are an even higher number. We have an enormous amount of pigs and all livestock animals you mention, plus pets. Pathogens are multiplying all the time. The fact that we only have a handful of examples of diseases that jump species and infect humans should tell you how difficult this is.

jacquesm 7y ago
> The fact that we only have a handful of examples of diseases that jump species and infect humans should tell you how difficult this is. Actually, no. We have many such examples. There are some lay people digestable books on the subject, the general gist of which is that diseases jumping from one species to another is rather more of a rule than the exception and a big part of the puzzle of why the genetic code for many viruses and bacteria that affect different species is so similar. The keyword to look for is zoonosis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis Choice quote: "of 1,415 pathogens known to infect humans, 61% were zoonotic."