Bird flu outbreak kills 20 cats in Poland

GENEVA/WARSAW - Polish cat owners and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are concerned after reports that at least 20 cats have died of bird flu in Poland, reported German news agency (dpa).

The WHO published a formal notification of the outbreak in Geneva on Monday, a move that should prompt other countries to tighten surveillance.

According to preliminary findings, no one who came in contact with the cats in question in Poland has contracted the H5N1 virus which causes bird flu.

The WHO assessed the risk of infection as low in general, and low to moderate for animal owners and animal care workers.

According to Germany's Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Greifswald, which is responsible for animal health, there is no evidence of H5N1 in pets in neighbouring Germany.

Avian flu has been circulating in wild birds for decades, but the number of cases has exploded recently. "There have never been so many cases in wild birds," said the Friedrich Loeffler Institute.

Virus variant 2.3.4.4b has been in circulation since 2020 and is increasingly infecting mammals.

Experts fear that over time, the H5N1 viruses will adapt to mammals to the extent that animals - and then possibly humans - will infect each other on a large scale.

So far, individual infections in humans are known, but not transmission from person to person.

"Sporadic infection of cats with A(H5N1) has previously been reported, but this is the first report of a high numbers of infected cats over a wide geographical area within a country," the WHO said in a statement.

In Poland, the first reports of a mysterious deadly disease in cats appeared in a veterinary forum in mid-June.

The Polish authorities recommend that concerned cat owners should not let their animals out of the house or bring them into contact with wild birds and wild animals. - BERNAMA