Dead German cat had H5N1bird flu...
Discussion
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=ANGQ5Z1M5I5L5QFIQMGSFFOAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/02/28/uflu.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/28/ixportaltop.html
A German laboratory has confirmed that a dead cat found on a small island in the Baltic had contracted the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu.
Cat
No other cats have reportedly caught the H5N1 strain in Germany
According to the Friedrich Loeffler institute, the cat was found on the northern island of Ruegen.
Most of Germany's hundred-plus cases of H5N1-infected wild birds were found on the same island.
The case is Germany's first recorded instance of the strain passing from birds to mammals.
A spokesman for the laboratory said it was a well-established fact that, in general, when cats eat infected birds they can themselves become infected. A number of big cats in Asian zoos have died after being fed with infected birds and domestic cats have been shown to be particularly vulnerable to the disease.
The spokesman said: "An infection of humans, which theoretically cannot be ruled out, could probably only occur with very intimate contact to infected animals."
He added that there had so far been no known case of a human becoming infected by a cat but called upon pet owners on Ruegen to keep their cats indoors for the time being.
My poor pussy!
mybrainhurts said:
Yoo Hoo...
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Whoops, sorry.
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