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Bird flu found in cats doesn't yet threaten humans: scientists

Cat lover Artitaya Kamyorm yesterday feeds cats, abandoned in the wake of the bird-flu outbreak, at a sanctuary in Bangkok. PHOTO: REUTERS

The appearance of bird flu in domestic cats in Thailand is not likely to increase the risk to human health from the virus that has swept through Asia, killing millions of birds and at least 22 people, the World Health Organization said.

Bird flu killed three house cats near the capital, Bangkok, Thai officials reported on Friday. Veterinarians urged residents to stay away from their cats if there were chickens living nearby. Chickens and ducks have been the main victims of bird flu.

Health experts are concerned that if bird flu sickens other animals, it could mutate into a strain more easily passed on to humans.

Controlling bird flu is "quite a serious problem," UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director General Jacques Diouf said on Friday. "Unless we deal with it very seriously, there is the risk not only of other birds contracting it but also other animals, and naturally we have also seen the effect on humans."

In a report posted on its Web site late on Friday, the WHO tried to quell concerns that infections in cats by the H5N1 bird flu virus would increase the risk to people.

"Should domestic cats prove to be easily infected with H5N1, which is considered unlikely, their infection is not expected to contribute in a significant way to the presence of H5N1 virus in the environment," the statement said.

Although a number of mammals have been infected by purely avian influenza viruses, "only the pig has significance for human health," the WHO said.

Pigs, which are genetically close to humans, can be infected by both human and avian flu viruses and "can thus serve as the `mixing vessel' for the mingling of genetic material," it said.

If this happens, a new bid flu virus subtype could emerge that is dangerous to humans, it said.

"The very small number of human cases -- despite abundant and widespread opportunities for exposure and subsequent infection -- strongly suggests that transmission of H5N1 from birds to mammals, including cats as well as humans, is a rare event."

FAO also cautioned that reports about the cats needed more study.

"Detailed clinical and pathological information is needed for a final analysis," it said in a statement from its headquarters in Rome. "We also need to know what specific diagnostic tests were performed and how the testing was carried out."

So far, cases in people have been traced largely to direct contact with infected chickens and other birds, or their feces.

Bird flu has also been detected in big cats. Khao Khiew zoo near Bangkok found a white tiger had the virus, but the animal recovered and is in good health, veterinarian Teeraphon Sirinaruemit said on Friday.

A clouded leopard died of bird flu at the same zoo last month -- the first mammal apart from humans known to have been killed in this year's outbreak. At least 15 people have died in Vietnam and seven in Thailand.

A WHO official said on Friday it's possible that Indonesia could also have human cases despite government claims to the contrary.

"It's such a large country and such a large population ... it may have been diagnosed as ordinary pneumonia," Georg Petersen said, adding that health officials have stepped up efforts to inform doctors about the virus.

Yesterday, a Cambodian man suspected of having avian influenza was cleared of the disease.
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