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High rates of influenza amongst cats surprises researchers
Oregon State study finds cats able to contract varying strains of the influenza virus
By McKinley Smith
The Daily Barometer
Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Updated: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 03:10
As the onset of flu season approaches, most people are worried about catching the flu, not about giving it to their cats. But the recent research of Christiane L?hr suggests that it might be a good idea to watch if Snuffles gets the sniffles too.
?The first case of a cat that became ill, but did not die, was in Iowa,? said L?hr, an associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University.
The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at OSU subsequently diagnosed the first fatal case of H1N1, popularly known as swine flu, in domestic cats.
A study titled ?Pandemic and Seasonal Human Influenza Virus Infections in Domestic Cats: Prevalence, Association with Respiratory Disease, and Seasonality Patterns? published last year in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, supplied additional evidence that domestic cats were indeed susceptible to contracting different strains of the influenza virus.
In the group studied, antibodies against the pandemic and seasonal H1N1 viruses were present 22.5 percent and 33 percent of the time, respectively, suggesting that rates of infection in domestic cats were higher than expected.
?I was surprised by how many cats were actually infected with the influenza virus,? L?hr said.
Additionally, the study established a link between infection with H1N1 and H3N2 and respiratory problems in cats.
There are a number of reasons these revelations are a cause for concern for L?hr...
High rates of influenza amongst cats surprises researchers
Oregon State study finds cats able to contract varying strains of the influenza virus
By McKinley Smith
The Daily Barometer
Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Updated: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 03:10
As the onset of flu season approaches, most people are worried about catching the flu, not about giving it to their cats. But the recent research of Christiane L?hr suggests that it might be a good idea to watch if Snuffles gets the sniffles too.
?The first case of a cat that became ill, but did not die, was in Iowa,? said L?hr, an associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University.
The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at OSU subsequently diagnosed the first fatal case of H1N1, popularly known as swine flu, in domestic cats.
A study titled ?Pandemic and Seasonal Human Influenza Virus Infections in Domestic Cats: Prevalence, Association with Respiratory Disease, and Seasonality Patterns? published last year in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, supplied additional evidence that domestic cats were indeed susceptible to contracting different strains of the influenza virus.
In the group studied, antibodies against the pandemic and seasonal H1N1 viruses were present 22.5 percent and 33 percent of the time, respectively, suggesting that rates of infection in domestic cats were higher than expected.
?I was surprised by how many cats were actually infected with the influenza virus,? L?hr said.
Additionally, the study established a link between infection with H1N1 and H3N2 and respiratory problems in cats.
There are a number of reasons these revelations are a cause for concern for L?hr...