Tweet
When other animals get avian flu
First posted 00:21am (Mla time) May 06, 2006
By Massie Santos Ballon
Inquirer
EARLIER this week Japan banned poultry imports from Great Britain to prevent the possible spread of avian H5N1 flu to its domestic birds. The week before, Russia banned the importation of poultry products. In mid-April, Bangladesh had a list of 56 countries from which they would not import poultry, including Great Britain and the Philippines. And approximately one month ago, the European Union decided to extend the ban on poultry product imports from several Eastern European nations.
With so much emphasis on preventing infected birds from possibly spreading the disease to other countries, this is perhaps a good time to note that birds aren?t the only animals that can act as carriers for the avian H5N1 flu.
In the past three years, a number of articles have appeared in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases regarding avian flu and other animals.
For a virus to successfully jump from one species to another, it needs time to make the transition to the new host and enough genetic similarity between the species so that the virus can actually replicate.
As last week?s column noted, while humans and birds share the same avian flu receptors, humans cannot easily transmit the disease to other humans via coughing or sneezing because the virus replicates deep within the human respiratory system.
Cats
The first report of an animal -- a leopard -- other than a bird being infected with avian flu was documented at a Bangkok zoo in January 2004. After other felines, both wild and domestic, in the area were later found to be infected with avian flu, researchers began examining the situation more carefully.
It was assumed at the time that the cats were infected by the virus because they ate raw, infected poultry. According to the Oct. 8, 2004 issue of the journal Science, researchers (Osterhaus et al.) from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands found that cats could be infected by live chicken, and more worrisomely, could transmit the disease to other cats.
In this year?s January issue of the American Journal of Pathology, Osterhaus et al. further note that the H5N1 virus infection causes systemic disease and spreads by potentially novel routes without and between mammalian hosts.
Pigs
In the August 2005 issue of the Journal of Virology, researchers from the United States, Thailand and Vietnam collaborated to study pigs in Vietnam that had been infected with avian flu. Their study showed that while the pigs could individually be infected with the H5N1 flu strain, they weren?t too good at transmitting the disease to each other, and therefore were less likely to be able to transmit the disease to humans.
Recent reports have noted that other animals such as dogs, foxes, weasels and seals have since been found to be infected with avian flu.
People should realize that birds are not the only animals that can be affected by avian flu and that there may be other ways for people to become infected with the virus.
More stringent sanitary measures may be necessary within a household to prevent the possible transmission of avian flu from, say, an infected cat or dog to its human owners. And humans should see to it that their pets aren?t exposed to possibly contaminated food in the first place to avoid having their beloved animals bite (and infect) the hands that feed them.
E-mail the author at massie _at_ massie.com.
First posted 00:21am (Mla time) May 06, 2006
By Massie Santos Ballon
Inquirer
EARLIER this week Japan banned poultry imports from Great Britain to prevent the possible spread of avian H5N1 flu to its domestic birds. The week before, Russia banned the importation of poultry products. In mid-April, Bangladesh had a list of 56 countries from which they would not import poultry, including Great Britain and the Philippines. And approximately one month ago, the European Union decided to extend the ban on poultry product imports from several Eastern European nations.
With so much emphasis on preventing infected birds from possibly spreading the disease to other countries, this is perhaps a good time to note that birds aren?t the only animals that can act as carriers for the avian H5N1 flu.
In the past three years, a number of articles have appeared in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases regarding avian flu and other animals.
For a virus to successfully jump from one species to another, it needs time to make the transition to the new host and enough genetic similarity between the species so that the virus can actually replicate.
As last week?s column noted, while humans and birds share the same avian flu receptors, humans cannot easily transmit the disease to other humans via coughing or sneezing because the virus replicates deep within the human respiratory system.
Cats
The first report of an animal -- a leopard -- other than a bird being infected with avian flu was documented at a Bangkok zoo in January 2004. After other felines, both wild and domestic, in the area were later found to be infected with avian flu, researchers began examining the situation more carefully.
It was assumed at the time that the cats were infected by the virus because they ate raw, infected poultry. According to the Oct. 8, 2004 issue of the journal Science, researchers (Osterhaus et al.) from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands found that cats could be infected by live chicken, and more worrisomely, could transmit the disease to other cats.
In this year?s January issue of the American Journal of Pathology, Osterhaus et al. further note that the H5N1 virus infection causes systemic disease and spreads by potentially novel routes without and between mammalian hosts.
Pigs
In the August 2005 issue of the Journal of Virology, researchers from the United States, Thailand and Vietnam collaborated to study pigs in Vietnam that had been infected with avian flu. Their study showed that while the pigs could individually be infected with the H5N1 flu strain, they weren?t too good at transmitting the disease to each other, and therefore were less likely to be able to transmit the disease to humans.
Recent reports have noted that other animals such as dogs, foxes, weasels and seals have since been found to be infected with avian flu.
People should realize that birds are not the only animals that can be affected by avian flu and that there may be other ways for people to become infected with the virus.
More stringent sanitary measures may be necessary within a household to prevent the possible transmission of avian flu from, say, an infected cat or dog to its human owners. And humans should see to it that their pets aren?t exposed to possibly contaminated food in the first place to avoid having their beloved animals bite (and infect) the hands that feed them.
E-mail the author at massie _at_ massie.com.
Comment