The facts you need to know.
At press time, the avian flu virus claimed its first cat victim after the feline ingested a bird with the H5N1 virus. In response, numerous European cat owners sped to shelters to abandon their pets. Were their reactions too drastic? If the virus can transfer from bird to cat, what is the risk of cat-to-human or human-to-human virus transmission? What does this mean for you and your cat?
So far, the virus is not a large threat. Only 98 human deaths were accounted by the World Health Organization, and only a handful of cat infections were reported, none of which were in the United States by press time. In almost all human infection cases, people had direct contact with an infected bird. In all cat cases, they ingested an infected bird.
[The avian flu virus] causes severe illness, but its not very infective, for people or for cats. In order for it to be a really big threat it would have to be very infective, very easy to get, says Diane Levitan, veterinarian founder and director of the Center for Specialized Veterinary Care in Long Island, N.Y.
However, just because human infection is rare, it remains a possibility. The fact that the virus mutated from birds to cats demonstrates its ability to cross species. Though it seems scary that the virus made the transition from birds to cats, the distance the virus jumps is irrelevant and common among viruses, Levitan says.
A virus may evolve into a new strain that becomes pathogenic to other species, Levitan says. Over time, there may be one or two DNA changes that result in different virus expressions, ultimately resulting in how it affects each species.
So one or two changes in a viruss DNA makes it dangerous to a cat, while one or two different changes in the DNA makes it dangerous to humans.
However, because pathogenic viruses like the H5N1 strain are so inherently unstable, it is almost impossible to predict how it may change and if those mutations will make it easily spread through humans. Adding to anxieties, Robert G. Webster, avian flu expert credited as the first scientist to discover the link between human flu and bird flu said he believes bird flu could become a real and large threat to humans, killing up to 50 percent of the population, in an interview on ABCs World News Tonight.
Yet Levitan remains calm.
Other flus could potentially do that too. We have the best technology right now and we -- public health organizations around the world -- know what were looking for. Levitan says. If there were to be an epidemic, I think it would be contained very quickly.
**For tips on how you can protect your cat from bird flu, pick up the June issue of CAT FANCY**
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