Risk of cats giving H5N1 to humans is small, says Euro Centre for Disease Prevention & Control

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

 

 

Risk of cats giving H5N1 to humans is small, says Euro Centre for

Disease Prevention & Control

 

ROTTERDAM, STOCKHOLM, LONDON-- " Cats could fuel bird flu

pandemic, " headlined the April 5 edition of The Times of London,

sparking similar headlines worldwide--but the risk is small,

responded the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in

Stockholm, Sweden, after reviewing the evidence.

" A distinction needs to be made, " reminded the European

Centre, " between species which can occasionally be infected by a

particular influenza, but who rarely transmit it, " such as cats,

" and those species in which it seems that the viruses are better

adapted and transmitted, " such as birds.

Cats were first known to be vulnerable to H5N1, the European

Centre response continued, in December 2003, " when a few leopards

and tigers died in a zoo in Thailand after being fed infected

poultry. " Later came " a much larger H5N1 outbreak in zoo tigers,

also in Thailand, who had been fed chicken carcasses. Over 140

tigers died or were euthanised. There was convincing evidence of

tiger to tiger transmission.

" Experimentally, " the European Centre acknowledged, " it has

been shown that domestic cats can be infected with H5N1 through

eating infected material, and can transmit influenza to other cats.

These experimentally infected cats, though limited in number, all

became seriously ill when infected, and did not seem to shed the

virus until they had symptoms. To date the only domestic cats who

have been conclusively shown to be infected have been those found ill

or dead in the intense epizootic of H5N1 in wild birds on Rugen

Island, " off the German coast, " in February 2006.

" There have been anecdotal reports of increased mortality in

cats during H5N1 outbreaks in other countries, " the European Centre

warned, " but these have not been confirmed by laboratory tests.

Unconfirmed reports of infections and deaths from H5N1 in cats

elsewhere should always be interpreted cautiously. A recent

preliminary report of infected cats in Austria was eventually not

confirmed. "

The Times article, by science correspondent Mark Henderson,

summarized a paper published in the April 6 edition of Nature by

virologist Albert Osterhaus and colleagues at the Erasmus Institute

in Rotterdam.

" As soon as the virus becomes endemic in wild birds or

poultry, it would be wise to realise that cats are susceptible, "

Osterhaus told Henderson. " As soon as you have birds that

become sick, cats are very effective at catching and eating them. In

endemic areas you should keep cats indoors and dogs on a lead. "

" Affected regions of Germany and France have already ordered

that cats be kept indoors, " Henderson reported, " but the [british]

Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not yet

said whether it would make similar provisions. "

 

--Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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