FEARS BF MAY HAVE ADAPTED

GENEVA: Reports that cats have contracted bird flu could mean the virus is adapting to mammals and poses a potentially higher risk to humans, a World Health Organisation official says.

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

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

Austria said on Monday that a cat in an animal sanctuary in the southern city of Graz had tested positive for the H5N1 avian 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 could still develop clinical signs, Dr Perdue said.

"We have to follow up with laboratory studies to see if it [the virus] changed genetically and is not causing clinical signs," he said.

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

Germany last week reported the first European case of H5N1 bird flu in a domestic cat on the island of Ruegen. A spokeswoman for the German Agriculture Ministry said another two dead cats found there on Monday were confirmed to have had H5N1.

The virus has killed 96 people in East Asia and the Middle East since late 2003. China reported on Tuesday that a nine-year-old girl in the country's east was its latest victim. Most bird flu victims contracted the disease directly from sick poultry.

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

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

Reuters