Highly pathogenic bird flu behind ‘unusual deaths in cats’ in Poland, WHO says

Dozens of cats in Poland just lately died after contracting a extremely pathogenic sort of fowl flu, the World Well being Group (WHO) introduced Sunday (July 16).

The fowl flu virus — a subtype of avian influenza A referred to as H5N1 — has sporadically contaminated cats previously, however this marks the primary report of “excessive numbers of contaminated cats over a large geographical space inside a rustic,” the WHO famous.

Categorised as a extremely pathogenic avian influenza virus, H5N1 is understood to trigger extreme illness and a excessive dying price in contaminated poultry. The virus may infect varied wild birds, a few of which can unfold the pathogen with out falling ailing themselves, and the bug generally leaps into mammals, together with mink, seals, sea lions, cats and the uncommon human being.

On June 27, authorities in Poland notified the WHO of “uncommon deaths in cats throughout the nation.” By early July, scientific samples had been collected from 46 affected cats and one caracal (Caracal caracal), a wild cat native to Africa. Of the 47 samples, 29, or 62%, examined constructive for H5N1. These constructive samples got here from 13 completely different geographical areas inside Poland, the WHO reported.

Associated: H5N1 fowl flu pressure strikes 1st particular person in US

An evaluation of a subset of the viral samples confirmed that they have been extremely associated to one another and that they have been much like H5N1 viruses which have been circulating in wild birds and sparking outbreaks in poultry in Poland.

“The supply of publicity of cats to the virus is at present unknown,” the WHO famous. It is potential that the cats had direct or oblique contact with contaminated birds or the birds’ environments, or that they ate contaminated birds or meals contaminated with H5N1. “Authorities are investigating all potential sources and thus far haven’t dominated out any.”

Of the contaminated cats, 14 have been euthanized and 11 extra have died. Submit-mortem examinations of a few of these cats advised they’d developed pneumonia. Different extreme signs exhibited by the contaminated cats included problem respiratory, bloody diarrhea and “neurological indicators.”

Since 2020, a dozen human instances of H5N1 have been reported to the WHO, however no new instances have been reported in reference to the outbreak amongst cats in Poland.

“As of 12 July, no human contacts of A(H5N1) constructive cats have reported signs, and the surveillance interval for all contacts is now full,” the WHO reported. The chance of H5N1 publicity from cats is taken into account low for Poland’s normal inhabitants and low to average for cat homeowners and for vets with out using acceptable private protecting tools.

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