more than 80 local catsAmong many other types of mammals, it has been confirmed that it may have bird flu since 2022 – generally cats Long live in dairy farmsAs well as brutal cats and Pets that spend an outdoor time It is possible that you hold her sick rodents or wild birds.
Now, a small but increasing but increased home cats of H5N1, the bird influenza strain leads the outbreak of the current United States, after eating raw food or drinking unpasteurized milk. Some of these cats died.
The currently circulated bird flu strain It has not been adapted To spread efficiently among people. There were no known cases of the cat’s transmission to humans during the current H5N1 outbreak.
Still there Always Risk That catsAnd that can be said Semi -pesticideIt can bring to the house a disease from the midnight.
“The accompanying animals, especially cats, are 100 % of the risk of public health in terms of the risk of moving to people,” said a virus specialist. Angela RasmussenThose who study the progress of the disease in the emerging viruses at the University of Saaskashwan A vaccine and an organic diseases.
This is because we are lecturing and sleeping in bed with our cats. When we don’t look, you drink cats from our water glasses and walk on kitchen meters. Therefore, cat owners should be aware of the constant spread of bird flu. “By reducing risks to your cats, you reduce the risks of yourself,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen does not believe that pet owners should be afraid that their cats will give them bird flu, but they said that taking precautions is good for pets, and to obtain public health.
Signs of bird flu in cats include a runny nose and emptying around the eyes, he explained Michael S. Billy, The elected president from American Veterinary Medical Association.
H5N1 also causes neurological problems such as dizziness and seizures, which are also symptoms of rabies. Rabies is almost almost dead and pose a threat to human health, so any animal suspected of having viral disease should be eliminated. Billy encourages people to ensure that pets are updated to their vaccinations.
Veterinarian Jane SykesA specialist in infectious diseases in cats and dogs at the University of California University of California Davis, he said that people should not assume that it is bird flu if their cat is sick-even if their animal spends time in the open air or eats a raw diet. The upper pastoral diseases are common in cats, while H5N1 “is still very rare”.
Six gives it an internal cat, freckles, and regular motors in the exclusive. She told NPR and KFFHELTH News that she had no concerns about getting freckles to get H5N1 because the heating process to make dry or canned pet food kill viruses.
More cases in cats, and more risks to humans
Some people feed their pets raw meat or unpasteurized milk because they believe it is a more nutritious or natural diet. The American Veterinary Medical Association website This is not inhibited by the causes of pathogens Like Salmonella and Lesteria, and now H5N1, the nurse is very ill.
By maintaining the health of pets, veterinary doctors play a fundamental role in protecting humans from animal diseases. The American Veterinary Medical Association says that the risk of developing H5N1 leaks from a pet to someone “is very low, but not zero.”
Governmental and local public health agencies, including those in Los Angeles Province and Washington StateSimilar warnings against raw diets of pets were issued.
Fears of human health are partially why FDA Announced Food and dog companies are now required to update their safety plans to protect from bird flu.
This came after the discovery of the Ministry of Agriculture in the state of Oregon. “An internal cat” Contracting with H5N1 and died after consuming the frozen product of Türkiye, which was made by the Raw Pet Food brand Northwest of nature. He stated that “the tests confirmed a genetic match between the virus in raw, frozen and infected pets.”
NorthWest Naturals voluntarily recalled that a group of its products based on frozen Türkiye. The company KFF Health News and NPR told the summons that the summons included “operating a small product” and that it has concerns about the accuracy of the Ministry of Agriculture test in Oregon.
The Ministry of Public Health in the Los Angeles Province said that five cats of prisoners were tested positive for bird flu after drinking unpasteurized raw milk from raw farm dairy in central California.
Raw farm Call voluntarily Milk and cream were tested after positive retail products were tested for H5N1, but they are It denies any food safety problemsAnd anxiety called a “political issue”.
Veterinary doctors warn pets against allowing non -supervising cats abroad because there is a risk of ha5n1 by interacting with other animals that may carry this disease.
“This is a very frightening virus, given that it can affect many different host species,” he said, he said, “He said, he said,” Bruce CornerchDirector of the Health Center at Cornell University.
At least one of the cat in 2016. NPR mentionedA veterinarian in New York City arrested the virus after close contact with the affected cats. The veterinarian suffered mild symptoms and quickly regained.
In this case, the H7N2 bird influenza strain was not the H5N1 that is now taking place in the United States
Sykes explained that H7N2 is a completely different type of viruses. But she said that she shows that the transmission of bird flu from cat to humans is possible in theory.
There is not much research on the transmission of bird flu from accompanying animals such as cats or dogs to humans, although Rasmussen has definitely agreed as a source of anxiety: the more infection you suffer from in animals, “the more your luck has run out.”
Most people who flared up H5N1 are agricultural workers who have direct contact with infected poultry or livestock. at least 67 emphasized H5N1 human cases in the United States, there was one death in a person who was immune in contact with birds.
In general, researchers in animal diseases want more grams H5N1 Monitoring In the accompanying animals of all kinds. Even if the number of human deaths from H5N1 remains relatively low, this will remain a threat to public health.
Fraud opportunities
Part of the anxiety of the H5N1 outbreak is that bird influenza viruses change. Only a few mutations can make this strain in a widespread among people. The more people hunting H5N1, the more efficient they are, the more efficient. Sorech KochibudiVirus scientist at Petsburg University, where he is looking for zoonooth diseases. Kochibudi studied H5N1 in cats.
Another concern Something called re -evaluation. If an animal or a person with virusen at one time, viruses can circulate genetic materials, creating something new. This is common in influenza, so virus scientists are looking for a condition in which bird flu re -make a more infectious virus, and perhaps more fierce.
The world of virus Rasmussen is a more anxious way about this in pigs. Human respiratory physics is very similar to incentives. To date, the current H5N1 outbreak has not reached commercial pigs. Rasmussen hopes to stay this way.
Kochibudi said the re -evaluation is relatively rare events, but the result is completely unpredictable. Sometimes the results are benign, although it is likely that the re -evaluation involves the bird virus that led to the Flu Faculty in 1918, which was killed It estimates 50 million people. In the century since then, viruses have created a global observation network to monitor influenza viruses. Scientists say The continued investment in this network is the key To prepare and I hope they will prevent another pandemic.
Rasmussen said the winter is the “re -evaluation season” due to all influenza viruses. Cats can be technically re -customized because these pets Sometimes get seasonal influenzaAnd it is very unlikely. Instead, Rasmussen said, the H5N1 cat is more likely to pass to a person who is already suffering from seasonal influenza, then re -evaluation occurs in the sick person. Although the danger is not zero, Rasmussen doubts that this will happen. This depends on the extent of human disease, and the amount of the virus they are exposed to from their cat.
She said: “Unless the cat really falls out of viruses, and you are a kind of going out with the cat, I think it will be difficult,” she said.
Rasmussen and Cochibudi warned, there is not enough research to know the amount of cats, or even how the virus is thrown.
Disease control and prevention centers were preparing to launch a new H5N1 study in cats, but this was delayed when the Trump administration stopped to the weekly report of the sick and deaths. This investigation, which was disclosed by the KFF Health News, in order to request public records, was found that home cats are likely to be on bird flu from dairy workers.
Kochibudi urged that scientists and public health agencies should question the assumptions that have already been occupied about bird flu. He pointed out that 20 years ago, no one expected to affect the bird flu from the dairy as it is now.
Dogs seem better
the FDA says Other domesticated animals, including dogs, can obtain bird flu infections. There are no confirmed cases of H5N1 between dogs in the United States, although in other countries they died of the virus.
There is some disagreement and general lack of research on whether cat’s biology makes it more likely to H5N1 than other mammals, including humans, pigs or dogs.
Kochibudi said that cat behaviors, like their love for dairy products and the predation of wild birds, exposed them to more danger. Also, living in groups may play a role as there are more brutal cat colonies in the United States more than stray dog packages.
There are very little people who can do it about H5N1 circulating in wild birds. As Rasmussen explained, “He flies in the sky. He migrates north and south with the seasons.”
But she said that there are many people who can do it to keep the virus outside their homes.
This includes limiting the exposure of a pet for the H5N1 by not feeding them to raw foods or unpasteurized milk, and trying to prevent them from interacting with animals such as rodents and wild birds that can develop the virus.
This article of partnership includes NPR And KFF Health News.