Mysterious Spread of Bird Flu in Cats in Poland, WHO Reports

[Warpy]

Cross posted from Science

Poland is the first country to report "high numbers" of cats infected with bird flu across a large area, the WHO said Monday, adding that the risk of human infection remained low.

​The World Health Organization said that since Polish health authorities informed it last month of unusual cat deaths across the country, 29 cats had tested positive for H5N1 bird flu.
-----------"The source of the exposure of cats to the virus is currently unknown and epizootic investigations are ongoing," WHO said in a statement.

​Some cats developed severe symptoms including difficulty in breathing, bloody diarrhoea and neurological signs, with rapid deterioration and death in some cases.

https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-spread-of-bird-flu-in-cats-in-poland-who-reports

The jump from birds to mammals is bad news and cats are companion mammals. This is in Poland but we know how fast this can spread. Keep the kitty inside, window seat for bird watching.