Lethal bird flu strain detected in cat in Germany

THE deadly strain of bird flu was confirmed yesterday in a cat in northern Germany, the first time the virus has been identified in a mammal in the EU.

The cat was found dead on the northern island of Ruegen, where most of the more than 100 wild birds infected by the H5N1 strain were found, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute said.

The cat was found at the weekend and tested positive for H5N1, laboratory leader Thomas Mettenleiter said.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokeswoman Maria Cheng said this was the first time she knew of an animal other than a bird being infected in Europe.

Tigers and leopards were infected by H5N1 in Thailand, where they were fed chicken carcasses in a zoo.

Bird flu infections were also confirmed in January in humans in the Asian part of Turkey. Twenty-one people tested positive for the H5N1 strain and four children died.

It is not clear whether cats can pass the disease to humans, Ms Cheng said.

“We know mammals can be infected by H5N1, but we don’t know what this means for humans,” she said.

Mr Mettenleiter said there are no known cases of the virus moving from cats to humans, but he cautioned pet owners on Ruegen to keep their cats inside.

“An infection of humans, which theoretically cannot be ruled out, could probably only occur with very intimate contact to infected animals,” he said.

Experts fear H5N1 may mutate into a form that can pass between humans, launching a pandemic that could kill millions.

Three house cats near Bangkok were found to be infected with the virus in February 2004. Officials said one cat ate a dead chicken on a farm where there was a bird flu outbreak, and the virus apparently spread to the others.

The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus was also detected in a fifth German state - Bavaria - where wild birds were infected.

The Friedrich Loeffler Institute determined that two wild birds found in the southern state tested positive for the strain, officials said.

The first cases of H5N1 in Germany were found on Ruegen in mid-February.

On Monday, the WHO raised its official tally of human bird flu cases worldwide to 173, including 93 deaths. Almost all human deaths from bird flu have been linked to contact with infected birds.