Scratchings-and-Sniffings |
| Cat with H1N1 - How did that happen? Posted: 05 Nov 2009 09:47 AM PST
I did take a gander at the AVMA Flu site and sure enough they had a press release up already. They got their info from the veterinarians in Iowa involved in the diagnosis and treatment of the cat in question. This 13 year old cat had the misfortune of living in a household with sick humans. It is thought that the cat's people spread the flu virus to the cat. First of all let me say that this is interesting news but not at all that shocking or unexpected. In fact it was probably just a matter of time. I did a flu post a few weeks ago and at that time there were no known cases of H1N1 transmission between pets and people. At least that I knew about. It turns out that on October 9th a case of H1N1 was confirmed in a pet Ferret. Like the Iowa cat, this Ferret lived in close proximity to sick people and is thought to have been infected by it's owners. How can this happen? The most common types of flu viruses are called Type A Flu viruses. Type A flu viruses are known to infect both people and animals. Usually these viruses are species specific. H1N1 is a type A virus, as are the common flu viruses infecting cats and dogs; H5N1 and H3N8 respectively. Interestingly, cats got H5N1 from infected birds and the dog flu virus, H3N8, came from horses. Birds play host to all known Type A flu viruses. For the H1N1 virus to cross over to a cat from a human, slight changes in the surface protein configuration would have to occur for the virus to make the cat sick. This is uncommon but obviously not impossible. The real question is whether this is serious or not. The answer is probably not. Sick people should take precautions to keep from spreading the flu. Stay home and refrain from close contact with susceptible family members. Those precautions should extend to family pets. The vast majority of pets are still not at high risk of getting the flu from their owners. And the opposite is even more unlikely. There are no known instances of a pets spreading H1N1 to an owner. Transmission from people to people is much more likely to occur and to remain the real meaningful problem. It's highly unlikely that an infected cat is going to come into close contact with other cats or people outside the family. That alone would limit the spread. Both the humans and the cat in the Iowa situation have been treated and recovered. If you get the flu and you have a pet take reasonable precautions. Limit close contact with your pets. If your pet develops flu like symptoms take them to the vet and don't play kissy face with them. It's highly unlikely that they have the H1N1 or any flu that can transmit to you or the kids. |
| Barking News: Cat Diagnosed with H1N1 Posted: 05 Nov 2009 04:52 AM PST
"A 13-year okd Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said Wednesday in what is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline in the United States," this report from Fox News says. A spokesman from the Centers for Disease Control says, "We've known certainly it's possible this could happen... This may be the first instance where we have documentation that transmission occurred involving cats or dogs." |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Scratchings-and-Sniffings To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment