USA Today is reporting on their website that a 13-year-old cat has contracted H1N1. The cat’s owners had also experienced flu-like symptoms according to USA Today. Now that both the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine have confirmed the cat has in fact caught the H1N1 flu (commonly known as “swine flu”) questions and concerns come to mind.Questions such as, ‘how do I keep my pet from getting sick?’ Or, ‘can I get H1N1 from my pet?’ and numerous other questions abound, but there may not be a historical medical record to point to for answers. "This may be the first instance where we have documentation that transmission occurred involving cats or dogs," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner told the Associated Press.
According to the USA Today article, the cat had the following symptoms: lethargy, difficulty breathing, and loss of appetite. The cat was treated last week at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames, Iowa and has recovered, according to Michael J. Crumb’s report for the Associated Press. However, the virus was recently confirmed in two ferrets, and both succumbed to their illness.
The cat was treated by Dr. Brett Sponseller, who warns against drawing too many conclusions from this case as the flu has always been known to travel between species, ‘“It's well documented in influenza in general, but this is the first highly suspected case of H1N1 going from humans into a cat,’ he said.”
For those with concerns, the only advice offered up from officials is to behave like you would normally behave during the flu season, such as getting vaccinated. Officials did stress “that there is no evidence that swine flu can be passed from pets to people.”
‘"But it's so early in the game we don't know how it's going to behave. But that doesn't appear to be the concern. There's no sense of them passing it on to people,’ said Michael San Filippo, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association.”
Commercial pigs test positive for H1N1 in Indiana
In other H1N1 news, the AP is also reporting that the US Department of Agriculture said Wednesday “that pigs in a commercial herd in Indiana have tested positive for swine flu, making it the first time the virus has been found in such hogs.”
The USDA discovered the flu in the pigs in Indiana using the department’s swine surveillance program. The samples were taken in October, and in the time after both the pigs and their caretakers have recovered from their illnesses.
While humans cannot contract H1N1 from consuming pork products, this news comes at a bad time for the swine industry as it is bound to add to the irrational fears that the previous statement is untrue. In addition to H1N1, the global recession has caused pain for the pork industry, as well as the typical struggle facing most farmers in paying for energy and feed and transportation costs.
This news is not expected to have an impact on the recent deal between the US and China to have the Asian nation re-open its markets to American pork products. This deal is vital for the pork industry as China was the fastest growing market for pork before the flu outbreak.
Meanwhile, work on a vaccine for hogs is still in the development phase. Herd infections have been announced recently in Canada, Australia, Argentina, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Norway.
To read the AP article click here.
To read the USA Today story click here.
To read the AP article on H1N1 in the commercial herd click here.
To read the USA Today story click here.
To read the AP article on H1N1 in the commercial herd click here.
Posted: 11/05/09
