Guest guest Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 Hello Lee. The outbreak occurred in A Tiger and Leopard in a zoo in Thailand in early 2004. (I mentioned that before) These felines had been fed infected Chicken meat. The Tiger recovered but the Leopard didn't. In the same UK newsbroadcast, it was also reported that there was a " pool " of infected cats in that country. I think that this could be the most worrying aspect to this particular news report as it could indicate that the virus has crossed the species barrier, but only if these cats caught it from each other without eating infected birds. Cats are mammals as you are aware. Other reports here have indicated more cat deaths in other countries far from the far-east. Mike. In Flu , " Lee " <jackalope_lepus@...> wrote: > > Bird flu has already been reported in pigs and in civets. So this > story is in error. Anyone know if it was also reported in tigers? I > think so. Wonder if there has ever been a case in a dog? I don't > think so but if house cats become infected... > > For First Time, Flu Spreads From Birds By MELISSA EDDY, Associated > Press Writer Mon Mar 6, 6:03 PM ET > VIENNA, Austria - Three cats have tested positive for the deadly > strain of bird flu in Austria's first reported case of the disease > spreading to an animal other than a bird, state authorities said > Monday. > The sick cats were among 170 living at an animal shelter where the > disease was detected in chickens last month, authorities said. > > The World Health Organization called bird flu a greater global > challenge than any previous infectious disease, costing global > agriculture more than $10 billion and affecting the livelihoods of > 300 million farmers. > > Poland reported its first outbreak of the disease, saying Monday that > laboratory tests confirmed that two wild swans had died of the lethal > strain. > > Dr. Margaret Chan, who is spearheading WHO's efforts against bird > flu, told disease experts meeting in Geneva to discuss bird flu > preparations that the organization's top priority was to keep the > deadly strain from mutating into a form easily passed between humans. > That could trigger a global pandemic. > > Since February, the virus has spread to birds in 17 new countries in > Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, she said. > > " We truly feel that this present threat and any other threat like it > is likely to stretch our global systems to the point of collapse, " > said Dr. Mike , WHO's director of epidemic and pandemic alert and > response. > > WHO spokeswoman Cheng said experts hope to isolate outbreaks > and establish agreements allowing international health authorities to > respond quickly, testing viruses and putting in place measures to > contain the disease. > > In Austria, all the cats from the affected shelter have been moved to > a location where they will remain under observation. The shelter has > been closed, Health Minister Rauch-Kallat told reporters in > Vienna. > > " We have decided to put all the cats in quarantine, " Rauch-Kallat > said. " Here they will be observed by veterinarians and experts in the > coming days and weeks. " > > German authorities last month confirmed that a cat on the Baltic Sea > island of Ruegen had succumbed to the deadly virus, which it is > believed to have caught by eating an infected bird. > > That would be consistent with a pattern of disease transmission seen > in wild cats in Asia. > > German officials have warned pet owners to keep their cats indoors > and dogs on a leash in areas where the disease has been detected > > Austria confirmed the nation's first case of H5N1 in a wild bird last > month and has since detected several dozen cases in birds, including > 29 in Styria. > > According to WHO, several tigers and snow leopards in a zoo and > several house cats were infected with H5N1 during outbreaks in Asia > in 2003 and 2004. > > Poland announced that the infected swans were found dead Thursday in > Torun, about 120 miles northwest of Warsaw. Samples were being sent > to Britain for further tests. > > According to the latest WHO figures, the H5N1 strain has killed at > least 95 people since 2003, mostly in Asia, and devastated poultry > stocks. Scientists are concerned that the virus could mutate into a > form easily spread between people, sparking a pandemic. > > Meanwhile, a top animal health official with the Rome-based U.N. Food > and Agriculture Organization said developed countries had responded > slowly to bird flu, failing to control the disease in Asia and not > doing enough to prepare poor countries, particularly in Africa, for > its spread. > > " In 2004 we said it will be an international crisis if we don't stop > it in Asia, and this is exactly what is happening two years later, " > said ph Domenech, head of FAO's Animal Health Service. > " We were asking for emergency funds and they never came. We are > constantly late. " > http://news./s/ap/20060306/ap_on_he_me/bird_flu > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23382976- details/'Cat+owners+at+risk+of+bird+flu'/article.do Cat owners are at a greater risk of catching bird flu as the deadly virus is most likely to mutate in felines, experts say. A study on cats in areas where outbreaks have occurred found that the virus is changing in felines more quickly than thought. It raises the chilling prospect that the disease could soon easily be spread from cats to people, leading to a human pandemic. And it shows that should bird flu ever break out in Britain, cat owners should be particularly on their guard. Scientists point to the alarming precedent of the Spanish flu pandemic, which killed tens of millions at the end of the first world war. It spread from birds to humans via pigs. Dr Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus University in Rotterdam said: " We know the 1918 pandemic was a bird flu virus that adapted to mammals in some intermediate mammalian host, possibly pigs. Maybe for H5N1 the intermediate host is cats. " Two other viruses which spread all over the world - the 1957 Asian flu and the Hong Kong flu of 1968 - also mutated in pigs. He said that if bird flu strikes, cats should be kepy away from birds and their droppings. He advised that all pets should be kept indoors and if they become ill they should be tested immediately for the bird flu virus. The latest study by an Indonesian university follows reports of unusually large numbers of dead cats being found near outbreaks of H5N1, the bird flu virus. All the cats in one Bangkok household died of H5N1 in 2004, and tigers and leopards - members of the cat family - died in Thai zoos in the same year. Last year three cats died in Germany after eating wild birds. Dr Chiarul Anwar Nidom of Airlangga University took blood samples from 500 cats living near poultry markets in four areas of the island of Java. All these areas had recently had outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry and people. Of the cats, one in five was carrying antibodies to the virus - meaning that they had been infected with it at some point, probably through eating infected birds. Dr Nidom said that many other infected cats would have died from the virus, meaning that many more than 20 per cent may have picked up the infection. He told New Scientist magazine: " I am quite taken aback by the results. " Tests in 2004 showed for the first time that cats could catch the virus from each other - not just by eating infected birds. Scientists are concerned that as the virus replicates in cats it will further adapt to mammals' bodies. This in turn will give H5N1 the ability to spread more efficiently to people and then from person to person - unleashing a devastating human pandemic. The new study comes after reports that the virus may already be developing resistance to Tamiflu, the powerful antiviral drug on which the NHS is relying to stem the spread of the disease. In late December, a man and his neice died of H5N1 flu in Egypt - even though they had been taking Tamiflu. Both were found to be infected with a mutated version of the virus, making it partially resistant to the drug. They had been on Tamiflu for only two days - meaning the virus may have been resistant before they caught it. The news is a concern because it had previously been thought that Tamiflu-resistant strains are not usually contagious because the mutations that make it resistant also cripple it. Scientists predict that once the virus mutates to allow it to spread between humans, it will take between six and eight months to develop a new drug to combat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 And earlier Study Finds Bird-Flu Virus Can Spread Among Cats By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN Published: September 3, 2004 Flu/message/1049 > > http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23382976- > details/'Cat+owners+at+risk+of+bird+flu'/article.do > > Cat owners are at a greater risk of catching bird flu as the deadly > virus is most likely to mutate in felines, experts say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 In einer eMail vom 29.01.2007 03:36:15 Westeuropäische Normalzeit schreibt jackalope_lepus@...: And earlier Study Finds Bird-Flu Virus Can Spread Among Cats and i.e. among tigers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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