Avian Influenza H5N1 in Naturally Infected Domestic Cat

Abstract

We report H5N1 virus infection in a domestic cat infected by eating a pigeon carcass. The virus isolated from the pigeon and the cat showed the same cluster as the viruses obtained during the outbreak in Thailand. Since cats are common house pets, concern regarding disease transmission to humans exists.

Persistence of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H7N1) in infected chickens: feather as a suitable sample for diagnosis

“…HPAIV has also been detected in commercial frozen duck carcasses of retained slaughter batches (Harder et al, 2009), which has increased concern about the food safety of poultry products by its zoonotic implications. Similarly, the transmission of H5N1 HPAIV from infected carcasses to other animals in HPAIV-endemic areas has also been reported in different carnivores such as domestic cats (Songserm et al, 2006a) and dogs (Songserm et al, 2006b), tigers and leopards (Keawcharoen et al, 2004) and red foxes (Reperant et al, 2008). Nevertheless, kinetic and systematic studies on the persistence of AIV in different tissues from infected carcasses have not been conducted.…”

Protection of cats against lethal influenza H5N1 challenge infection

“…Sporadic fatal disease due to natural HPAIV H5N1 infection has also been reported in various carnivores, including domestic cats, leopards and tigers, which were previously considered to be resistant to influenza A virus infection (Paniker & Nair, 1970, 1972Hinshaw et al, 1981). Meanwhile, natural infection of felids has been reported from seven countries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe including China (http://www.promedmail.org; archive number 20041023.2873), Thailand (Keawcharoen et al, 2004;Thanawongnuwech et al, 2005;Songserm et al, 2006), Vietnam (http://www.promedmail.org; archive number 20050826.2527), Indonesia (http://www.promedmail. org; archive number 20070126.0347), Iraq (Yingst et al, 2006), Austria (Leschnik et al, 2007) and Germany (Klopfleisch et al, 2007;Weber et al, 2007 , attachment to type II pneumocytes and virus replication in type I and type II pneumocytes .…”

Puzzling inefficiency of H5N1 influenza vaccines in Egyptian poultry

“…This possibility increases the potential public health threat of H5N1 HPAI. Since its emergence in domestic geese in Guangdong Province, China (6,7), the H5N1 HPAI virus has evolved to form at least 10 distinct phylogenetic clades (8) and has spread to wild migratory waterfowl (9) and to multiple mammalian hosts (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). In April 2005, a massive die-off of wild waterfowl was caused by H5N1 HPAI viruses at Qinghai Lake in China (17,18).…”