NEW WARNINGS ABOUT CATS ABILITY TO HOST AND SPREAD BIRD FLU VIRUS TO HUMANS


From the UK Telegraph :

"The ability of mammals to contract and transmit the avian influenza virus has important human health implications. We know about cats as a potential host for avian influenza because of the extensive infection of cats in Asia in outbreaks there."

(A new) report calls for more research to better understand the results of exposure on feral cats, farm cats and household pets and the risks of transmission to poultry.

Unlike suggestions earlier in the year, an author of this new report says that culling would not be an option in stopping the possible spread of the bird flu virus via felines. More important was for cat owners to keep their cats inside and away from possible sources of infection.

Two years ago, there was the first report of a domestic cat vomiting, coughing up blood and dying from the avian influenza H5N1 virus in Thailand. Then came the death of 147 captive tigers fed virus-infected chicken carcasses and cases in Indonesia, where farmers already link the disease in cats to that in poultry.

Cats can become infected with the virus through contact with domestic and wild birds, and then excrete the virus from the respiratory and digestive tract, sometimes transmitting infection to other cats. Cats fed virus-infected chickens can be infected directly through the gut - a novel route for influenza transmission in mammals.