Cats have bird flu in Thailand

Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 20 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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The Thai authorities have confirmed that two cats, one white tiger and a leopard have bird flu - the H5N1 virus.

This is worrying. Every time the bird flu can jump from one animal to another different one, the greater the concern is that the virus can mutate and become one that is transmissible from human to human. This would have serious consequences as the flu would then spread among humans rapidly.

The avian flu virus has killed 22 people so far. It does not yet pass from human to human.

Dr Teeraphon of the Kasetsart University, said 'This is the first time in the world that we have found bird flu in cats and tigers.'

The viruses found in the two cats and the white tiger have identical genetic codes to the bird flu virus found in chickens.

The two cats that died belonged to a Thai man who lived near an infected farm. He is the owner of 15 cats. 14 cats have died, all we know so far is that two had the bird flu virus. We will have to wait for the results of tests regarding the other 12.

One of the cats is still alive, but quite ill.

The white tiger that had bird flu is better now (recovered). It comes from Khao Khiew Zoo, Chonburi province, near Bangkok, Thailand.

It seems that a leopard died of avian flu H5N1 last month. The leopard came from the same zoo as the white tiger.

The Thai government cannot make any comments until further test results are available to them.

The Prime Minister of Thailand has asked his population not to feed animals with raw chicken meat.

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