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The UK government says pet owners shouldn’t feed their cats raw chicken or feed waterfowl because of potential bird flu contamination.
Scientists and public health officials are alarmed by the growing threat to mammals from bird flu after an outbreak of the virus in cats in Poland last month killed 25 cats.
Last week, European Union food safety officials advised pet owners across continental Europe to keep dogs and cats indoors after an incident in Poland.
in England, Defra does not recommend pet owners keep their animals indoors, saying the risk to cats in the country is very low.But it still argues that people should take “reasonable precautions” to limit any threats to animals.
These precautions include reducing pets’ exposure to wild birds, especially waterfowl, and avoiding eating raw poultry and waterfowl that can be infected with the H5N1 virus.
Common garden birds are thought to be at lower risk of bird flu than waterfowl in parks and wetlands.
Public health authorities in Poland continue to test cats infected with the bird flu virus last month.
The most likely cause of outbreaks is thought to be cats that have eaten infected raw meat. Affected animals were widely distributed, and most of the 25 that died had limited access to the outdoors, making it unlikely that cats were infected. The same wild bird source.
A spokeswoman for Defra said: “The latest evidence suggests that the bird flu virus circulating among birds does not spread easily to humans, and at this time in the UK pet cats and dogs do not. There is no evidence of infection,” he said.
Defra and UK Health and Safety Agency We are closely monitoring the situation in Poland and other outbreaks of birds and mammals.
Since the current H5N1 epidemic began in the fall of 2021, only 15 people worldwide have contracted the virus directly from infected birds, and no one has passed the virus on to others. The risk of human infection is considered low.
In a joint statement last week, the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the World Animal Health Organization warned of a “shocking increase” in avian flu outbreaks in mammals, posing an increasing risk to humans.
But scientists worry that the rising incidence of H5N1 infections in mammals will give the virus more chances to evolve into a human-to-human virus.
In the past week alone, Finnish public health authorities have confirmed the discovery of bird flu. 10 mink fur farms in Japan.
Evidence for mammalian-to-mammalian transmission in the wild is limited, but there are indications that the virus has spread among farmed mink kept in close confinement in Spain and elsewhere.
new science paper Virologists Dr. Thomas Peacock and Prof. Wendy Berkeley wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that high-density mink farms increase the risk of the next human pandemic, calling the practice a controversial illegal “feature.” It warns that it is equated with “acquisition”. Laboratory research that modifies the genome of a virus to make it more powerful. “Mink poses more risk to future disease outbreaks and future pandemic development than any other farmed species,” the paper said, adding: They are treated as an intermediate species in which dangerous adaptations to human infection may evolve.
“In situations where RNA viruses are transmitted among multiple animals housed in close proximity, viruses with altered phenotypes, such as those with increased pandemic potential, may evolve.
“In many current regulatory agencies, comparable laboratory ‘experiments’ of this nature are classified as ‘gain-of-function’ research and are therefore prohibited.
“We urge governments to also consider the growing evidence suggesting the phasing out of fur farming, especially mink, in preparation for a pandemic.”
In the UK, Defra’s advice is for people not to touch sick or dead birds. Wild bird carcasses should be reported to the special Defra helpline (03459 33 55 77) if they meet the following criteria: 1 or more dead birds of prey (owls, hawks, buzzards, etc.), 3 or more dead waterfowl (including at least one seagull, swan, goose or duck) or five or more dead wild birds of any kind.