Bird flu spread kills leopard in zoo

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Bird flu spread kills leopard in zoo

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

17 February 2004

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=492131

 

Bird Flu sweeping through the Far East has jumped a second species barrier,

killing a rare leopard and infecting a tiger in a Thai zoo, officials said

yesterday.

 

It is the first time that the deadly H5N1 virus has been identified in cat

species, proving again its capacity to spread beyond the poultry flocks that

it has infected.

 

Two more cases of humans with the virus were reported in Vietnam yesterday

after a week's lull in which no new cases had come to light. The virus,

which has been found in eight Asian countries, has already killed 14 people

in Vietnam and six in Thailand, where the latest victim, a teenage boy, died

at the weekend.

 

The rare clouded leopard died on 27 January at a zoo near Bangkok, several

days after suffering from respiratory problems. It is one of the largest

cats in Asia, named for its cloud-like spots and found mainly in the forests

of South-east Asia, India and China. The Thai Environment Minister, Prapat

Panyachatraksa, said tests showed that it was suffering from the H5N1 virus.

" We believe it might have eaten some unhealthy chickens, " he said. The tiger

at the zoo which was also infected was recovering, he added.

 

Speaking before the cause of death was confirmed, Professor Malik Peiris, an

expert on avian flu at the University of Hong Kong, said: " If it is true,

there have been no reports of these kinds of animals succumbing to bird

flu. "

 

Experts believe that the virus, which has forced the slaughter of some 80

million birds in the region, mostly in Vietnam and Thailand, is probably

spread by migrating birds.

 

The new human cases are a 15-year-old boy, who is being treated at a

hospital in the northern Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa after falling ill

on 9 February and a 22-year-old man who is being treated in Ho Chi Minh City

in the south.

 

Thai and Vietnamese ministers are expected to share experiences on combating

the disease when they meet for the first joint cabinet meeting in the

Vietnamese resort city of Danang on Friday.

 

The World Health Organisation said that there was still no sign of the

epidemic of bird flu, the worst in living memory, being brought under

control. " Based on our experience in Vietnam and Thailand, we still have

concerns that the outbreak is not going to be contained in the next one or

two months, " Kumara Rai, of the organisation's South-east Asia office, told

reporters in Delhi.

 

Japan planned to declare an end to its outbreak this week if no new cases

were reported, but Thailand's hopes of following suit were dashed when the

virus reappeared in eight areas where it was thought to have been

eliminated. It was found in fighting cocks in areas where mass slaughter had

been carried out, leading to allegations that owners had hidden the valuable

birds during the first cull.

 

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has said it could take

months, even a couple of years, to be sure that the virus was no longer a

threat.

22 February 2004 01:02