bird flu in cats in Iraq

People are not the only mammals that the H5N1 bird flu virus infects -- there've also been reports of cats infected with the disease, from Germany to tigers in the Bangkok Zoo, and reports from Indonesia.

Now it appears that some cats in Iraq caught the virus from eating dead chickens. The strain of the H5N1 appears to be the same as the one that infected a person in Iraq not long ago.

This is the strain of H5N1 called Clade II, also called the Qinghai strain because it was first found in dead migratory birds around Qinghai Lake in 2005.

Fortunately, the cats were in the northern, Kurdish area of Iraq. I say that because I'm assuming this area has relatively few American soldiers, because the Kurds are keeping their area of Iraq free of terrorist violence (the problems are almost all in the Sunni triangle area -- NOT the entire country). Otherwise there's the possibility, although remote, of American soldiers catching bird flu from infected cats.

bird flu infects cats in Iraq





Bird Flu in Cats
Bird Flu in Cats