Avian Flu - The Latest From FAB
18 years ago
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Posted
23rd March, 2006 00h00
Cats have made the news recently with the finding of the H5N1 avian flu virus in several cats in Germany and Austria, mostly where it has caused their death. Cats are among the many animals that can be infected when they come into close contact with the virus, which of course they may do if they eat birds which are infected. However, studies that have been done so far suggest that cats are not a major reservoir of the virus and that relatively little virus is shed in their faeces. Infection in cats is rare and there has been no evidence to date that cats have been responsible for transmitting the virus to humans, although it can be transmitted from cat to cat.
FAB believes that if and when avian flu reaches the UK, the simple and most effective way of avoiding cats being infected would be to keep them indoors, especially if they are known to wander and are in an area where infected birds are known to be present. Should avian flu reach the UK, this will be an easy but important way of protecting cats from the disease, and is being
recommended in other countries in regions affected by the virus.
The World Health Organisation has posted the following announcement on its website:
There is no present evidence that domestic cats play a role in the transmission cycle of H5N1 viruses. To date, no human case has been linked to exposure to a diseased cat. No outbreaks in domestic cats have been reported.
Unlike the case in domestic and wild birds, there is no evidence that domestic cats are a reservoir of the virus. All available evidence indicates that cat infections occur in association with H5N1 outbreaks in domestic or wild birds.
The current H5N1 panzoonotic in birds in mid-2003 in parts of South East Asia, has been accompanied by a few anecdotal reports of H5N1 infection in domestic cats. In such reports, eating raw infected poultry was considered the most likely source of infection.More from
