Two domestic cats in Thailand died of the same bird flu that has killed at least 22 people in Asia, a veterinarian said yesterday, a day after Canada announced its first case of a different strain of the virus.
The discoveries have alarmed scientists who now fear the disease can spread as easily between species as it has between countries.
They said yesterday developing human vaccines must be a priority to prevent a pandemic like the one in 1918 that killed as many as 50 million people worldwide.
"It is a pandemic threat constantly simmering," Dr. Marion Koopmans, of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, said in an interview in London.
China confirmed two more suspected outbreaks of the influenza H5N1 virus in two provinces yesterday.
Thai officials also reported that the virus had reappeared in two provinces that had been declared under control.
With the influenza H5N1 virus spreading at an unprecedented rate through poultry and with 22 people dead in Asia, researchers warned it poses a substantial threat to human health.
In two reports in the Lancet medical journal, Koopmans and Malik Peiris of the University of Hong Kong, who both dealt with previous cases of animal-to-human transmission of flu, described why the current avian outbreak is so dangerous.
Koopmans said it is possible the virus may not be completely controlled in poultry because it is so widespread, which furthered the case for making a vaccine a top priority.
An Australian government research lab said a locally developed drug, Relenza, used for treating human influenza, had proven effective against bird flu in laboratory tests.
The virus has also crossed the species barrier to domestic animals, and in Bangkok yesterday scientists confirmed the deaths of two house cats.
"We found H5N1 in two of the three cats," said Teerapol Sirinaruemit, a veterinarian at Kasetsart University's animal hospital who conducted autopsies on three animals.
"They might have caught the virus from eating chicken carcasses or from live chickens that had bird flu," he said.
The three were among 15 cats living in a house located near an infected chicken farm 60km west of Bangkok, Teerapol said.
Fourteen cats died, but it was unclear if all had been infected with the H5N1 virus. One cat was still alive.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS