Cats must be included in flu precautions: experts

[ukcz]

Cats must be included in flu precautions: experts
Wed Apr 5, 2006 11:08 AM ET167
By Patricia Reaney

LONDON (Reuters) - Animal health experts called on Wednesday for new precautions against bird flu because cats, and possibly other mammals, can be infected and could spread the H5N1 virus.

Dr Albert Osterhaus, of Erasmus University in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, also warned that as well as passing H5N1 to other species, cats may help the virus to adapt into a more highly infectious strain in humans which could spark a pandemic.

"We have to take a number of precautionary measures," said Osterhaus, a virologist and veterinarian.

"We need to keep in mind that mammals can be infected and that they can spread the disease, in principle."

Animals such as dogs, foxes, ferrets and seals may also be vulnerable to infection, the researchers said in a commentary in the journal Nature.

They recommended that in areas where avian flu is endemic, cats should not be in contact with birds or their droppings. Cats may need to be kept indoors and if animals or other carnivores show signs of illness they should be tested for H5N1.

"Perhaps there is a case for developing a vaccine for cats as well," Osterhaus told Reuters.

OFFICIAL GUIDELINES
Cats can also act as an early warning signal for the virus.

"When wild birds are infected we have seen that cats are quite effective in catching them and catching the disease. In this way they could be sentinels," Osterhaus said.

Deaths from H5N1, which has infected 191 people and killed 108, have been reported in cats in countries in Asia and in Iraq and Germany. Tigers and leopards in zoos in Thailand have also died after eating fresh chicken carcasses.

"The potential role of cats should be considered in official guidelines for controlling the spread of H5N1 virus," said Osterhaus, Thijs Kuiken of Erasmus University and Peter Roeder, an animal health officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, in the journal.

Studies at Erasmus University have shown that cats can be infected through the respiratory tract, in a similar way to humans, but that the more likely route is through the gut by eating infected birds.

The animals develop serious or fatal disease and can transmit the virus to other cats.

"We have shown that cat-to-cat transmission is possible," Osterhaus said. "That is important because it would predispose the virus to adapt to mammals. We cannot exclude that. How big the problem is we don't know."

It has also been shown that the amount of virus excreted by cats through the respiratory tract or in feces is lower than the levels from chickens.

The scientists do not know how long cats can excrete the virus, the minimal amount of virus needed to cause infection in cats or whether virus transmission from cats to poultry, humans and other species is possible.

"But given the potential contribution of these carnivore hosts to both virus transmission and its adaptation to mammals, we believe the time for increased surveillance and precaution is here," they added in the journal.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-04-05T150843Z_01_L03131622_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-CATS.xml&archived=False

[Texanna]

Re: Cats must be included in flu precautions: experts

Posted by Ukcz

avian flu is endemic, cats should not be in contact with birds or their droppings. Cats may need to be kept indoors and if animals or other carnivores show signs of illness they should be tested for H5N1.

Doesn't this cover most of Southeast Asia? Not likely that all of the domestic house cats will be contained much less the thousands of feral cats.

[Snowy Owl]

Dutch Warns Cats Could Play Role In Bird Flu Transmission, Mutation

Dutch Warns Cats Could Play Role In Bird Flu Transmission, Mutation
http://www.playfuls.com/news_00639_Dutch_Warns_Cats_Could_Play_Role_In_Bir d_Flu_Transmission_Mutation.html

Greater precaution needs to be taken to prevent domestic cats from transmitting bird flu to humans, Dutch researchers say after experiments on cats at Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical Centre.

Writing in the journal Nature, the team notes increasing reports of domestic cats dying of bird flu in Asia and Europe. And the researchers highlight the possibility that cats could play a role in allowing the virus to change in such a way that the feared human pandemic could become a reality.

'Apart from the role that cats may play in H5N1 virus transmission to other species, they may be involved in helping the virus to adapt to efficient human-to-human transmission,' they say.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="695"><tbody><tr><td> The team noted that its research from experimentally infected cats did not reveal important mutations in the virus but warned that 'such mutations cannot be ruled out.' And it was critical of the response of the World Health Organization to reports of deaths among cats from the H5N1 avian influenza strain.

The WHO said in February that there was 'no present evidence that domestic cats play a role in the transmission cycle of H5N1 viruses.' The article in Nature notes the deaths from the virus of domestic cats, wild members of the cat family and animals like tigers in Asian zoos, dating the first report to Bangkok in February 2004.

And it said the disease was now so well-known in parts of Indonesia that it had been given the onomatopoeic name of 'aargh- plop' in the local dialect. The H5N1 virus appeared particularly severe in cats, it said. Experiments in the Netherlands showed all eight cats exposed to the virus by three different methods going on to develop the disease.

The team highlighted the fact that cats become infected with the virus through contact with domestic and wild birds and sometimes transmitted it to other cats.

It suggested precautions like keeping cats indoors, but noted that such measures could be impossible to implement in many parts of the world.

'We believe the time for increased surveillance and precaution is here,' the Dutch team said.

? 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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[Snowy Owl]

Cats may play role in bird flu spread

Cats may play role in bird flu spread

Keep felines indoors in areas where virus is present, scientists say
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12166066

NEW YORK - People living in areas where bird flu has been found in poultry or wild birds should keep their cats indoors, say scientists who believe the potential role of felines in spreading the virus is being overlooked.

Cats have been known to become infected with the H5N1 virus and lab experiments show they can give it to other cats, although nobody knows whether they can transmit it to people or poultry, the researchers say in Thursday?s issue of the journal Nature.


Scientists know so little about H5N1 in cats that it?s difficult to assess the risk they pose when infected, wrote virologist Albert Osterhaus and colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, along with Peter Roeder of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Still, ?we believe that the potential role of cats should be considered in official guidelines for controlling the spread of H5N1 virus infection,? they wrote.


Osterhaus also warned that as well as passing H5N1 to other species, cats may help the virus to adapt into a more highly infectious strain in humans which could spark a pandemic.


?We have to take a number of precautionary measures,? said Osterhaus, a virologist and veterinarian.


?We need to keep in mind that mammals can be infected and that they can spread the disease, in principle.?

Animals such as dogs, foxes, ferrets and seals may also be vulnerable to infection, the researchers said in a commentary in the journal Nature.


In areas where H5N1 has been found in poultry or wild birds, cats should be kept away from infected birds or their droppings, and cats suspected of such contacts or showing symptoms of infection should be quarantined and tested, they wrote. Cats may need to be kept indoors and if animals or other carnivores show signs of illness they should be tested for H5N1.


?Perhaps there is a case for developing a vaccine for cats as well,? Osterhaus told Reuters.


Where possible, cats could be kept indoors to prevent contact, they wrote.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, an agency of the European Union, has also recommended keeping cats indoors if they live within about six miles of a verified H5N1 infection in birds.


Official guidelines

Cats can also act as an early warning signal for the virus.


?When wild birds are infected we have seen that cats are quite effective in catching them and catching the disease. In this way they could be sentinels,? Osterhaus said.

Deaths from H5N1, which has infected 191 people and killed 108, have been reported in cats in countries in Asia and in Iraq and Germany. Tigers and leopards in zoos in Thailand have also died after eating fresh chicken carcasses.


?The potential role of cats should be considered in official guidelines for controlling the spread of H5N1 virus,? said Osterhaus, Thijs Kuiken of Erasmus University and Peter Roeder, an animal health officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, in the journal.
Studies at Erasmus University have shown that cats can be infected through the respiratory tract, in a similar way to humans, but that the more likely route is through the gut by eating infected birds.
The animals develop serious or fatal disease and can transmit the virus to other cats.


?We have shown that cat-to-cat transmission is possible,? Osterhaus said. ?That is important because it would predispose the virus to adapt to mammals. We cannot exclude that. How big the problem is we don?t know.?
It has also been shown that the amount of virus excreted by cats through the respiratory tract or in feces is lower than the levels from chickens.


The scientists do not know how long cats can excrete the virus, the minimal amount of virus needed to cause infection in cats or whether virus transmission from cats to poultry, humans and other species is possible.


?But given the potential contribution of these carnivore hosts to both virus transmission and its adaptation to mammals, we believe the time for increased surveillance and precaution is here,? they added in the journal.


Some bird flu experts said they found it premature to suggest keeping cats indoors. Scientists need to learn more about what role, if any, cats have in spreading H5N1 before making such blanket recommendations, said Dr. Arnold S. Monto of the University of Michigan School of Public Health.


Osterhaus, discussing his recommendations in a telephone interview, said that ?people in the United States should realize the disease is not there, so there is no reason at this moment to be concerned at all.?

[GaudiaRay]

Re: Cats must be included in flu precautions: experts

Back from 2 weeks in Egypt today.

Ferral cats and dogs are common both in the countryside and the cities, all along the Nile River and Delta. They're ignored by most people and are unafraid of humans who view them as garbage eaters and garbage cleaners.

To think that we in the first world can "manage" avoidance of crossover from cat/dog/other mammal to human by minding our own p's and q's is foolish and naive, imo.

In Egypt, nature has about 50 million humans who are daily exposed to those ferral animals and their droppings and the dust of they droppings.

Nature will "win", whatever that may be. I'd like to know more but I see it a false hope to monitor and shelter pets from the illness, unless you seriously plan to keep your pet indoors with you.