Test results proved that several cats in Bangkok had died of the
H5N1 virus that caused the avian influenza, a Thai veterinarian
said at a press conference held on Friday morning.
Five cats were sent to the Kasetsart University's animal
hospital with flu symptoms earlier this month and four of them that
died later were tested positive for H5N1 virus, said Thaneerat
Sntivatra, director of the hospital and dean of the university's
Faculty of Veterinary Science.
The university's lab had tested sections of lung and spleen
tissues from the dead animals and found out virus in it, Thaneerat
told reporters.
The scientists then compared the virus with that of the H5N1
virus and concluded they were the same type.
The lab then cultivated the virus and injected it to a
newly-hatched chicken, which died soon, he explained the whole
process.
This was the first case that H5N1 virus had been detected on a
cat, said Thaneerat, calling the discovery a "milestone" one.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization and the Thai government
were urging people not to panic over the news and providing
feasible suggestion to stay away from the disease.
WHO official Somchai Thirapakorn based in Bangkok earlier said
the disease wouldn't necessarily be transmitted between mammals and
human even the virus had been detected on cat.
So far, the virus detected on cat remained exactly the same as
those found out on chicken, the Public Health Ministry's Disease
Control Department director, Charal Trivuthipong, told
reporters.
Scientists were most concerned about the mutation of the virus,
which would make the disease more lethal and hard to cure.
The Thai Public Health Ministry also advised people raising cat
to avoid cats' slobber, nasal mucus and excreta and wash their
hands after touching cats.
The five cats sent to the animal hospital were from the same
family living at Bangkok's suburb.
According to the state-run Thai News Agency, one of the family's
10 cats had eaten a dead chicken at a nearby chicken farm affected
by bird flu and disappeared later.
The other nine cats then all showed flu symptoms and four died
without going hospital. There's still one cat receiving treatment
in hospital.
On Monday, the Thai government confirmed that a cloud leopard in
a zoo had died of the virus causing bird flu. This was the first
case that mammal had been infected with the disease.
The government also said a white tiger in the zoo affected
earlier by the disease had recovered.
(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2004)