Bird flu: Cat first example of mammal infection

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been confirmed in a cat in Germany, the first time it has been positively identified in the country in a mammal, a national laboratory said today.

The cat was found on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, where most of Germany’s more-than 100 cases of H5N1-infected wild birds have been found, the Friedrich Loeffler institute said.