Posted on 04/08/2006 5:20:54 PM PDT by blam
Cat bird flu risks 'overlooked'
Cats who eat infected chickens can contract the deadly H5N1 virus
It is vital to restrict the spread of bird flu in cats in order to protect human health, scientists warn. Writing in Nature, scientists from Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, say the risk is being overlooked.
They say cats can contract the virus by eating infected chicken or through close contact with other cats - both new ways of mammals becoming infected.
However, animal health experts said there was a "limited risk" to humans from infected mammals with H5N1 flu.
The first report of domestic cats dying of the H5N1 virus emerged in Thailand in 2004 when 14 out of 15 cats in a household near Bangkok fell ill and died.
One had eaten a chicken carcass on a farm where there was an outbreak of the virus.
Post-mortem examinations on three of the cats confirmed the presence of H5N1.
Since then, there have been deaths among cats in Indonesia, Thailand and Iraq, where H5N1 appears to be prevalent among poultry.
And the disease is common among cats in Indonesia.
A dead cat was also found in Germany in March after the H5N1 virus was found in wild birds.
There have been reports of big cats dying from the deadly H5N1 virus - including 147 tigers who died in a Thai zoo after eating infected chicken.
Dogs at risk
The Erasmus researchers say there is too little data to establish what the minimum dose needed to infect cats is or whether cats can excrete the virus even if they are uninfected.
It is also not known whether they can transmit the virus back to poultry or even on to humans.
The scientists warn that other carnivorous animals including dogs, foxes and seals are also vulnerable to infection.
Professor Albert Osterhaus, the lead author of the Nature report, told the BBC News website: "This is a concern where the H5N1 virus is endemic among poultry.
"We do not want to exaggerate the risk but if it is there then health officials must take the necessary steps."
He said these included keeping domestic cats inside, ensuring dogs were kept on the lead and quarantining any animals that showed signs of ill health.
"It's not easy for a person to be infected by a cat but where a child is in close contact with a sick animal or it has diarrhoea or is licking someone, it is a possibility."
But he stressed: "In areas where the virus is not endemic, these measures are not necessary."
Precautions
Professor Peter Openshaw, head of respiratory infections at London's Imperial College, said: "At the moment, cats seem to be an evolutionary blind alley.
"They mainly get a gut or lung infection and haven't been shown to be able to transmit to man.
"However, cats might form a bridge to man since they often live in close domestic contact - in the same way that nursing a sick pet bird has been shown to do."
A spokesman for the Animal Health Service, part of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, said there were certain parts of the world where H5N1 was present where any bird-eating animal posed a "limited risk" to humans.
Precautionary measures for pet animals were needed in such places, he said.
He said the FAO, along with the World Health Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health, planned to carry out research to look at cat infections and the role cats l could play in the development of avian flu.
oh, the sky is falling, blah, blah, blah . . .
Cat flu. That would be nice.
No word on whether the cat had the virus, but the tire tracks might be a hint.
Cat flu might be a good thing.
Stupid birds..
Great.
First I can't eat chicken, now I can't eat cats...
I knew the cat haters would love this thread.
Hay, slings baby, alert the troops.
LOL
"...including 147 tigers who died in a Thai zoo after eating infected chicken."
147 Tigers? In ONE zoo? In Thailand, which has 304 people per square mile? (America has 76 per square mile.) Yikes. We have TWO tigers at our zoo.
This hysteria reminds me of how we were all going to die from West Nile Virus a few years back, and them Lyme Disease from Deer Ticks, prior to that.
Have we topped 100 human deaths in this world-wide bird flu "epidemic" yet?
March 15, 2006
Bird flu cases have been discovered along the Caspian Sea coast
A stray dog has died of bird flu in the Caspian nation of Azerbaijan, health officials have said - thought to be the first time the virus has killed a dog.
Azerbaijan reported its first three human deaths from bird flu on Monday.
The World Health Organization has yet to confirm bird flu caused the human deaths, but said the US Navy lab that carried out the tests was reliable.
The deaths of the three young Azeri women would take the WHO total for human deaths from bird flu to 101.
There have been no confirmed cases of one person passing the virus to another. Most people who have contracted it are thought to have been in close contact with domestic poultry.
But scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that can pass from person to person.
Germany has reported at least three cat deaths from bird flu, which has been spreading from South-East Asia since 2003.
Quarantine
The deadly H5N1 strain of the virus was discovered in migratory bird flocks in Azerbaijan last month.
The government has taken measures to quarantine the two regions where the women died, with entry and exit to their villages being controlled.
Cars were being disinfected and domestic poultry was being confined, Reuters news agency reported.
The dog that died was found in the capital Baku on 9 March, health officials said.
Good thing Viking Kitties subsist on a diet made up completely of DUmmies and trolls.
***This hysteria reminds me of how we were all going to die from West Nile Virus a few years back, and them Lyme Disease from Deer Ticks, prior to that. ***
One must not forget the SWINE FLU panic of 1977! More people died standing in line for the shots than from the swine flu. I think only ONE man contracted swine flu from his pigs. He was immediatly overcome by reporters looking for a scoop!
catflu?....ghesundtheit
"YOU @#$%^!S HEARD THE LADY! ACT ALERT, @#$%^S!"
Keeping the cat indoors as always.
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