H5N1 confirmed in German cat as pets put on short leash

[PhilipShore]

Agence France-Presse
H5N1 confirmed in German cat as pets put on short leash
Mar 03, 2006

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=3&story_id=68166

BERLIN, Germany -- German health officials confirmed Thursday that a cat on Ruegen island died from bird flu's most pathogenic strain as EU veterinary experts urged pet owners to keep cats indoors and dogs on a leash in affected areas.

The cat found on the Baltic island had been infected with the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu that can prove fatal to humans, the national veterinary laboratory said.
It was the first case of an infected mammal in the European Union, but the disease killed domestic and wild cats, including tigers, in Asia in 2004.

[Greeby]

1. I've still got my Smokey, and she does like to catch and kill birds

Call it the predatory instinct.

:scared:

[DemExpat]

2. Yes, it is starting to enter our thoughts here too.....

my Jack Russell terrier loves swimming in ponds with lots of wild birds like coots, ducks, swans, chases pigeons in the parks, and worst of all, she loves to roll in decomposing animal and bird carcasses.....

:scared:

I'm not freaking yet, but just realizing the potential dangers for her and us if the dangerous strain reaches our area....

DemEx

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Don't they eat cats in China?

Are you telling me that this never happened before?

[SaveElmer]

4. A couple Tigers in China...and Civet cats in Vietnam...

Other than that this is the first reported...

Really of all the things to worry about, this is not it!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Well, it is if there's something out there we still haven't looked at.

Would be another source of information, and the more we learn about how this thing is jumping from species to species, the more we'll be prepared to make a vaccine or to be prepared for prevention.

[kestrel91316]

6. Word from DU's cat vet:

A word to the wise: if H5N1 is found anywhere in North America, it will be time to bring all your indoor/outdoor cats INSIDE. PERIOD. They believe the German cat caught it from wild birds.

We're talking duty to our beloved pets, and civic duty to guard against further spread and risking a jump to humans.

Edited for punctuation

[PhilipShore]

7. Thank you DU's cat vet...

I have a cat; and I will keep her indoors now. Even though you say if found in North America, I'm still bringing my pet in now, because I don't trust the government to tell me --the truth -- about if H5N1 was found, because they manipulated the EPA findings about 9/11 so as to not create a panic.

I did not trust the media -- then after 9/11 about the air not being toxic, and I closed my windows and ran my air filter.

[PhilipShore]

8. Reuters: Bird flu likely in US flocks soon-Health Secy

Reuters
Bird flu likely in US flocks soon-Health Secy
01 Mar 2006

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01380630.htm

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The lethal avian flu that is spreading rapidly around the world could soon infect wild birds and domesticated flocks in the United States, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Wednesday.

In testimony to a congressional panel on his agency's budget for combating a possible avian flu outbreak among humans, Leavitt told senators that no one knows when or if the virus will pose a threat to people. But, he said, "it's just a matter of time -- it may be very soon" when wild birds and possibly poultry flocks contract the disease.

Leavitt said that infection of birds alone in the United States with the H5N1 virus would not create a public health emergency. Such an emergency would occur if the disease mutated so that it became easily transfered from human to human.

The H5N1 disease so far has killed 94 people in seven countries.