Bird Flu Virus Found In Two Dead Cats

[george]

Thai vet says found bird flu virus in dead cats

BANGKOK: - Pet cats in Thailand have died of bird flu after eating infected chicken, a vet at a state university said on Thursday, increasing fears the highly virulent disease can jump easily to other non-avian species. "We've found bird flu in cats," Professor Thaneerat Santiwat, head of Kasetsart University's veterinary science department, told Reuters, adding that they would release more details at a news conference on Friday morning.

It is the first time Thai officials have said they have found the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has killed at least 22 people in Asia, in domesticated cats.

A rare Thai leopard, which was fed raw infected chicken at a zoo near Bangkok, was confirmed as dying of bird flu earlier this week.

The case has alarmed experts studying the H5N1 virus, which has afflicted millions of chickens, since it now appears to be able to make the leap into another animal species.

--Reuters 2004-02-19

[george]

Bird flu spreads to cats

BANGKOK: - Two domestic cats in Thailand have died of the same bird flu that has killed 22 people in Asia, scientists say, increasing fears that the virus can move between species as easily as it has between countries.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urged pet lovers in Thailand, fabled birthplace of the prized, champagne-coloured Siamese cat, to stay calm but said they should think twice before feeding stray or domestic animals with potentially infected meat.

"Please don't panic," Thaksin told reporters in the capital, Bangkok, on Friday. "If animals eat raw, infected chicken, they will have no immunity. Please do not feed your animals uncooked chicken."

With the human death toll from the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus standing at 22 in Vietnam and Thailand, attention has switched to the number of different species it is able to infect.

At present, H5N1 appears to spread easily only among birds, but health experts fear it might mate with another animal or human flu virus to produce a highly contagious and deadly variant that could unleash a global human flu pandemic.

The two dead cats, which were among three of 15 cats tested from a house near an infected chicken farm in Nakorn Pathom, 60 km (37 miles) west of Bangkok, are the first cases of the virus to be found in domestic animals.

"We found H5N1 in two of the three cats," said Teerapol Sirinaruemit, a veterinarian at Kasetsart University's animal hospital who conducted the autopsies.

"They might have caught the virus from eating chicken carcasses or from live chickens that had bird flu," he said.

BIG CATS, SMALL CATS

Besides killing humans and millions of wild and farmed birds across Asia, the H5N1 strain showed this week it can jump to other species after a rare clouded leopard at a zoo near Bangkok was confirmed as having died of bird flu.

Reports this month that the virus had spread to pigs, which have an immune system similar to humans', turned out to be false.

"Clearly the more animal species that are infected with the avian flu virus, the bigger is the risk to humans they may catch the virus from animals," Bjorn Melgaard, the World Health Organisation's Thailand representative, told Reuters.

"We need to be very, very watchful."

As word spread, the Health Ministry said it had sent officials to check on anybody who had been in contact with the dead cats, while pet owners took immediate precautions, switching meals from cooked chicken to beef.

"Steak has become my cats' daily meal these days," said Paranyoo Sukkasean, a 34-year-old nurse who spends 20,000 baht (270 pounds) a month on food for her own seven cats and the 100 stray dogs in her Bangkok neighbourhood.

Although Thai cats are far from the spoiled, fireside felines common in Europe and America, thousands of strays live cheek-by-jowl with humans in semi-domestication in impoverished rural and urban areas, especially around temples.

Professor Thaneerat Santiwat, dean of Kasetsart University's veterinary faculty, said that if the public took suitable precautions, the dangers of a wider outbreak could be minimised.

"Although the virus can spread to cats, which can easily catch flu, it is controllable," he said. "Don't let your cats eat dead chicken carcasses, dead birds, or any dead animals found in infected areas."

--Reuters 2004-02-20

[sbk]

My understanding was the bird flu was respiratory in nature and contracted by inhaling faeces from an infected bird. Cats contracting it would make sense as they have very delicate respiratory systems and are very susceptible to respiratory illnesses anyway.

[adjan jb]

WARNING:

They've found bird flu in dead pussies.

[adjan jb]

WARNING:

They've found bird flu in dead pussies.

It's coming closer and closer...

[george]

Bird flu in cats 'won't increase risk to humans'

BANGKOK: -- Health experts yesterday downplayed cases of bird flu in domestic cats, saying the infections were unlikely to increase the risk posed to humans by the virus that has swept through Asia and killed at least 22 people.

Following reports that bird flu killed three house cats near Bangkok, veterinarians have urged residents to stay away from their cats if there are chickens living nearby.

Health experts are concerned that if bird flu infects other animals, it could mutate into a strain more easily passed on to humans.

But Thai officials called on people not to overreact to the news of the feline cases of the virulent H5N1 strain.

There has been 'no scientific evidence that the virus could be transmitted from cat to cat or humans. Those cat lovers should keep them as pets and not set them free,' said Dr Thawat Suntrajarn, the head of the avian influenza operation centre.

He added that people in affected areas should make sure that their pets do not eat or come into direct contact with dead infected chickens. Officials believe the sick cats contracted the disease after eating raw infected chicken meat.

In a report posted on its website on Friday, the World Health Organisation also tried to quell concerns that infections in cats would increase the risk to people.

'Should domestic cats prove to be easily infected with H5N1, which is considered unlikely, their infection is not expected to contribute in a significant way to the presence of H5N1 virus in the environment,' the statement said.

The WHO added that only bird flu infections in pigs would have serious implications for human health. Pigs are genetically close to humans and can contract both human and animal diseases. Scientists fear they could serve as a 'mixing vessel' for a new, highly contagious flu subtype.

Five people on a farm in British Columbia on Canada's west coast, where avian flu was discovered last week, have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms.

But officials there stressed that the virus responsible, a milder H7 strain, is harmless to humans.

Meanwhile, Texas became the fourth US state to be hit with the H5N2 virus following outbreaks in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

-- Agencies 2004-02-22

[one leg bill]

IS any body worried but me about rats eating dead chickens they are the species that spread all the great decreases in the past

[one leg bill]

REPLAY TO SBK yes cats have delicate noises ,but so do a lot of other animals how about dogs smelling the dead chickens.