Veterinary workers in China are monitoring domestic animals after Indonesia
reported that avian influenza had been detected in a large number of cats.
The discovery has heightened concerns about a virus that experts had thought
was basically infecting chickens, ducks and other fowl.
"We are surprised to hear that so many cats were discovered to have the
virus," Wang Changjiang, a veterinary official with the Ministry of Agriculture,
told China Daily.
"We believe it was a sporadic case, but it alerts us to expand monitoring
The official did not specify when the ministry would increase monitoring
efforts, or what animals would be targeted.
The ministry has not received any report of bird flu infection among dogs and
cats in China; nor among pigs, which have been on a check list along with fowls
and wild birds since 2004, he said.
A survey by Chairul Anwar Nidom, a scientist at Airlangga University in
Surabaya, found H5N1 antibodies in 20 percent of 500 stray cats near poultry
markets in four areas in Java, including Jakarta. Another case of infection was
found in an area of Sumatra where there had been recent human H5N1 cases or
outbreaks of the disease in poultry.
The survey said the findings suggested the cats had probably been infected
because they ate infected poultry, according to the report.
Wang said he had heard about cat infections outside China, but not in such
massive numbers. He said scientists have yet to identify whether dogs or cats
are susceptible to bird flu.
In another case in Indonesia, Ngurah Mahardika, a virologist at Udayana
University, surveyed pigs and domestic animals in Bali between September and
December last year and found the virus in two dogs and a cat.
The Indonesian surveys added to worries about the virus which has killed 164
people since late 2003 and has flared again with a string of human H5N1 cases in
Indonesia and the virus spreading among poultry in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan.
It is not known how efficiently domestic animals can pass the virus on to
humans, or other mammals.
"The increase in the number and species of affected domestic animals may add
to the risks of bird flu being transmitted to humans," Wang said.
Reuters contributed to the story
(China Daily 01/31/2007 page1)