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Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk

Austria: Cats Not Sick But Carriers!!!
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ExaminedLife View Drop Down
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Points: 124 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ExaminedLife Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Austria: Cats Not Sick But Carriers!!!
    Posted: March 07 2006 at 9:30am

Breaking....http://www.forbes.com/finance/feeds/afx/2006/03/ 06/afx2574345.html

If animals are carriers, but show no symtoms, how can we detect this before it's too late!!!

Austria reports two infected cats reject H5N1 bird flu virus
03.06.2006, 06:34 PM

 VIENNA (AFX) - Two cats that carried the H5N1 strain of bird flu in southern Austria have rejected the virus without becoming sick, while a third one is still being tested for the disease, health officials said.

The potentially lethal H5N1 virus was found in samples taken on Feb 22 from three cats in an animal shelter near Graz, Oskar Wawschinek, spokesman for the Austrian Health and Food Safety Organization (AGES), told Agence France-Presse.

All three cats are still alive and subsequent tests have shown two of the cats no longer carry the virus.

'Nothing remained, nothing developed, they did not become ill' he said, explaining the cats fought off the bird flu virus as humans fight off the common cold virus to avoid becoming sick. 

Only the third cat is still a suspected case of H5N1, said Ulrich Herzog of the Austrian Health Ministry during a news conference in Vienna.

This is only the second time in Europe the virus has jumped from birds to felines, after German health officials confirmed Thursday that a cat on Ruegen island died from bird flu's most pathogenic strain.

 

 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 9:48am
Well, does this mean there might be hope that people could be the same way? Get it but not suffer from it?
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Points: 684 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Falcon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 9:56am
hopefully but considering people have died from it, it makes you wonder just how many strands are out there
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Elizabeth View Drop Down
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Points: 113 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Elizabeth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 10:01am
Wouldn't this mean that those cats were immune?  If a virus is new, and no species is supposed to have immunity to it, how can this be?  I wonder if some people will also be immune? 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 10:43am
Maybe they were really sick, but recovered.

I've gotten the impression though that it would be difficult to survive without intensive care - whether that would be in a hospital or at home with family members.


The article says "they did not become ill" and that "the cats fought off the bird flu virus as humans fight off the common cold virus to avoid becoming sick."  But does that mean a person (or cat in this case) doesn't become sick at all or just has a mild cold and does not have to stay in bed with tissues, chicken soup, and the remote.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:15pm

Still I am very concerned that these two cats could just as well be radom picks .  Although I guessing they chose these cats because it was exposed to a cat who died  from avaian flu.  

Are they doing radon testing.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:22pm
ok then what about the cat in Germany that died of H5N1....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:24pm
Remember there are dogs, and cattle also dying.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:30pm

 
New test on Austrian cat is negative for bird flu
 
08.03.06 8.20am
 
VIENNA - An Austrian cat which has twice tested positive for the H5N1
bird flu virus did not show the virus in a third probe today, Austria's
health ministry said, adding to uncertainty about the infection in cats.

The cat is one of 170 that were kept in an animal
sanctuary in southern Austria close to a cage of fowl which had been
infected with H5N1. Three cats tested positive for the virus in saliva tests
last week, Austria said yesterday.

A subsequent test of the three cats' faeces confirmed H5N1 in only one of
the samples, in a very low concentration. A third faeces test taken today
was negative for all of them, a health ministry spokeswoman said.

However, the spokeswoman added the ministry was still waiting for the
results of tests on the cats' blood.

"Apparently cats are more resistant than chicken," the spokeswoman said.
"That you find the virus in the mouth apparently doesn't mean that it
reaches the other end too."

The 170 cats, 40 of which had been saliva-tested in the Noah's Ark
sanctuary in the city of Graz, were brought to a quarantine centre close to
Vienna for observation and tests.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said today that more studies were
needed on infections in cats, including how they shed the virus in their
environment.

The WHO asked Austria to provide more detail on the cats, adding that it
was potentially significant if an animal could contract the virus and not
show any symptoms of illness.



Johann Thalhammer, a professor at Vienna's veterinary university who is
now monitoring the cats, said he could not confirm that they did not have
any symptoms of the virus.

"There were no symptoms that the people in the sanctuary noticed,"
Thalhammer said. "How exactly they were observing the cats in the
sanctuary I don't know."

"What we are looking for now is: are there more cats testing positive? Are
those which are infected showing any symptoms that can be correlated to
the virus?," he added.

Bird flu can wipe out poultry flocks in the space of 48 hours and can also
infect people who come into close contact with infected birds. It has killed
at least 95 people in Asia and the Middle East since late 2003.

- REUTERS


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/print.cfm?
c_id=2&objectid=10371592

* This is interesting because they have some kind of
metrics that allows them to determine that of the 170 cats, 40 were at
risk. Mmmmm...

* That suggests that 24% of the cats became infected by being caged
close and breathing air close to infected fowl



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:31pm
and pigs and horses and lets not forget humans..oh right thats us...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:33pm
Fish and Turtles, whales
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Points: 124 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ExaminedLife Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:35pm
The fact that cats have been detected with H5N1, but haven't been ill, is deeply troubling.

H5N1 has a very high morbidity rate among humans. The fact that felines or swine are not outwardly ill doesn't change this core fact.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:35pm

now I know how my old car died....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:38pm

Originally posted by ExaminedLife ExaminedLife wrote:

The fact that cats have been detected with H5N1, but haven't been ill, is deeply troubling.

H5N1 has a very high morbidity rate among humans. The fact that felines or swine are not outwardly ill doesn't change this core fact.

 

Yes very true....they could be the silent vectors...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:42pm

It's a false test. Results came back twice postive and now negative.  They are still running bloodwork.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 1:43pm


Any animal that continues to appear healthy could be a vector, bird, pig, cat,
civet, pigeon, etc.

Goodness! My head is spinning, I think I lie down and have Smithwicks with
my Tofu.

P.S. We are beyond too late, that's why we're prepping. Another way of
looking at it, other mammals could be natural reservoirs, like ducks.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 4:17pm
Cats with bird flu may mean human danger

March 8, 2006 - 5:39AM

Reports that a cat contracted bird flu could mean the virus is adapting to
mammals and poses a potentially higher risk to humans, a World Health
Organisation (WHO) official says.

Michael Perdue, a scientist with the WHO's global influenza program, said
more studies were needed on infections in cats, including how they shed
the virus.

But Perdue said there was no evidence cats were hidden carriers of the
virus, which can wipe out poultry flocks in the space of 48 hours and
infect people.

Austria said that a cat in an animal sanctuary in the southern city of Graz
had tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus but had yet to show any
symptoms of the disease.

However, the virus could take up to a week to strike and it was possible
the cat in Austria could still develop clinical signs, Perdue said.

"We have to follow-up with laboratory studies to see if
it (the virus) changed genetically and is not causing clinical signs," Perdue
said.

"If it is true, it would imply the virus has changed significantly," he said.


The virus has killed 95 people in East Asia and the Middle East since late
2003.

Most of the victims contracted the disease directly from sick poultry, but
experts fear the virus could mutate and spread easily among people,
sparking a pandemic which could kill millions.

Animals carrying H5N1 without showing any
signs of ill health could make it harder to detect and contain bird flu.

The longer the virus remains dormant in a mammal, without it getting
sick or dying, the greater the risk of it also mutating into a more
dangerous form.

"The longer it stays in mammals one would assume it is more likely to be
adapted to mammals, as opposed to staying in birds.

"If the virus obtains all the mutations needed to transmit easily between
mammals it could imply higher risk to humans," Perdue said.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Cats-with-bird-flu-may-m ean-
human-danger/2006/03/08/1141701533026.html
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Points: 487 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mightymouse Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2006 at 7:21pm

I remember reading on one of the threads - can't find it - that BF may be more deadly to ainimals (people) with certain genes.  Perhaps ducks have an immunity - or a high % do - due to thier gene structure.  In that case when it comes to people - one will be taken and one will be left.  Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a gene test to tell who was susceptable and who wasn't.  

If that were to be the situation there will be a new Gov't mandate:

All those with 'good' genes will work - all those with 'bad' genes will stay home, watch TV, and drink beer.  WHO wins? 

Nothing matters - Therefore everything matters
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