The Oregon Division of Agriculture (ODA) yesterday reported {that a} home cat has died from H5N1 avian flu after consuming uncooked frozen pet meals, which has prompted the voluntary recall of uncooked pet meals that was bought nationwide by means of distributors in 12 states in addition to in British Columbia.
The event is a part of a rising variety of avian flu infections in cats, together with new detections in pets from a second California county.
Genetic match between cat and uncooked meals viruses
In a assertionthe ODA mentioned the home cat that examined constructive for H5N1 died after consuming uncooked meals. Assessments confirmed a genetic match between a pattern from the cat and the virus from Northwest Naturals uncooked and frozen pet meals.
Ryan Scholz, DVM, Oregon’s state veterinarian, mentioned officers are assured the cat contracted the virus from Northwest Naturals meals. “This cat was strictly an indoor cat; it was not uncovered to the virus in its surroundings, and outcomes from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the uncooked pet meals and contaminated cat had been precise matches to one another.”
The recall includes the corporate’s 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe uncooked & frozen pet meals. The product was bought nationwide by means of distributors in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington.
Oregon’s Well being Authority is monitoring family members who had contact with the sick cat, and the ODA is urging customers who purchased the recalled meals to discard the product.
Virus kills two Santa Barbara County cats
Final week, Los Angeles County issued an animal well being alert about H5 in home cats following sickness reviews in cats from two households, one the place cats had consumed recalled uncooked milk and the opposite involving a cat that was uncovered to an unspecified commercially produced uncooked pet meals.
On December 23, the Santa Barbara County Public Well being Division introduced the affirmation of two H5 avian flu infections in pet cats from two completely different households. After testing constructive for influenza A, a uncommon prevalence in cats, the cats skilled extreme neurological signs and died from their infections.
The supply of an infection continues to be below investigation.
“At the moment, there is no such thing as a proof of native cat-to-cat, cat-to-human or human-to-human unfold of H5 chicken flu, and the danger to most people continues to be low,” the well being division mentioned. It added that individuals who have shut contact with wild birds or their feces, contaminated cats, dairy cows or uncooked milk, sick poultry, and contaminated cats could have a better danger of publicity.
Dairy herd detections prime 900 amid extra detections in poultry and wild birds
Since December 23, the US Division of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Well being Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed 25 extra H5N1 detections in dairy cattleall from California, elevating the state’s whole to 685 and the nationwide whole to 901 from 16 states.
APHIS additionally confirmed extra outbreaks in poultry flocks in 5 completely different states, together with three extra layer farms in three completely different California counties, Riverside, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus.
The virus additionally hit turkey farms in Oklahoma’s Adair County, Illinois’ Lawrence County, and Michigan’with Ottawa County.
Additionally, the virus struck yard poultry in Missouri, Vermont, and California.
In the meantime, APHIS reported greater than 60 extra H5N1 detections in wild birds throughout a large portion of the nation, principally involving waterfowl. The pattern assortment dates vary from late November and into December.
The detections are a mixture of hunter-harvested, mortality occasions, and stay sampling. Lots of the samples are from Georgia, Iowa, New Mexico, and northwestern states together with Washington.
