Iowa cat has H1N1

[CoffeeCat]

I don't know much about the spread of disease, but I thought this was interesting. It seems like H1N1 is very easily
transmitted from human--human and also from animal---human. And now it seems human---animal transmission can happen.

http://www.kcci.com/health/21521430/detail.html

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The H1N1 flu virus has been confirmed in a cat treated at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Officials said Wednesday it's the first known case of the virus to be diagnosed in a cat. Veterinarians said the virus has also been confirmed in two ferrets, one in Oregon and the other in Nebraska.

The 13-year-old cat was treated in Ames and is recovering.

"We were able to do a very specific test that confirmed H1N1 in this cat," said veterinarian Dr. Al Jergens.

http://www.kcci.com/health/21521430/detail.html

[Jennicut]

1. NO! Not the kitties.

Poor animals.

[kestrel91316]

10. It's a SINGLE CASE. Not to worry just yet.

[Jennicut]

15. Thanks. I just got my daughters vaccinated yesteraday

They are 4 and 5 and one of them is an asthmatic. So at least they won't be giving it to our cat, Daisy (she is in the pic below).

[Echo In Light]

2. A co-worker was just telling me this!

And to think our veterinarian recently told us that cats and people cannot share germs relating to cold/flu.

[kestrel91316]

11. There ARE a few cold viruses that humans can give to cats. Those

infections all, as far as we know, dead-end in the primary cat, and neither spread to other cats nor back into humans. And the cats don't get very sick from them. I am quite sure I have seen several cases of this in my career.

[Echo In Light]

14. Interesting. We have two brothers, 3 yrs old, and this subject came up several months ago

... before there was any public focus on H1N1 ... one of them suddenly developed an asthmatic condition that luckily responded well to treatment, and hasn't recurred. But at first when we were trying to pinpoint what was wrong with him (Bandit) we were discussing potential for human-to-feline transmission.

Thanks for your input :hi:

[Warpy]

22. Yes, I've swapped a cold with one kitty over the years.

She came down with it a day after I did, snuffled a little, went off her feed, and glared at me for a week and that was it.

[SPedigrees]

17. In most cases they cannot. nt

[SPedigrees]

18. In most cases they cannot. nt

[Warpy]

3. You can swap a cold back and forth with your cat

and commiserate when you both lose your sense of taste for a couple of days.

In fact, it's been long known that a few upper respiratory viruses affect both species.

However, this is the first time I've heard of giving something to a ferret.

Poor critters!

[Echo In Light]

6. I've never researched it, yet as I said above, on our cat's last annual exam...

... she told us that what you're describing cannot occur. Weird ... just goes to show, provided that's accurate, that even bright, learned people can be dead wrong re an issue within their own field of study.

[Warpy]

8. It's rare, but it's been documented

http://www.catster.com/guides/cat_health_and_care/health_care/feline_to_human_transmission/intro_feline_to_human_transmission

[Echo In Light]

13. Auh, I see. Thanks for that!

[Sal Minella]

4. Actually, the four pigs diagnosed positive in Minnesota were infected by humans

too. (don't have a link and don't have time right now to go find one).

*** Note to CoffeeCat *** Be careful out there. :)

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. Well, if a 13 year old kitteh survived this shit

then it seems their systems might be able to handle it better than humans do.

[kestrel91316]

12. Cats handle tetanus just fine, IIRC. Humans, not so much. You cannot infer

anything about this.

[AllentownJake]

7. Not Good

That is how Viruses gain their potency.

[kestrel91316]

9. Not any cause for a fuss just yet. The cat recovered fine. It appears that,

like some other respiratory viruses (common colds of various stripes), H1N1 is a "reverse zoonosis", or "anthroponosis", meaning a disease tha humans can give to animals. There is no evidence that any of these anthroponotic respiratory viruses, including H1N1, do anything other than dead-end in an infected cat. There is no evidence of further spread to other cats, or spread back into humans.

So far, it's kind of a yawner. But the potential for it to be, or some future similar virus to become, more dangerous in humans still exists. I find this disturbing professionally because we veterinarians are still being shut out of access to H1N1 vaccine unless we are in a defined high risk group. This is shameful. It will obviously take the needless illness or death of someone in the veterinary field for the authorities to wake up to the fact that WE are potentially at risk, too.

Once again, we're just lowly, unimportant animal doctor-wanna-be's........

[CoffeeCat]

21. Kestrel...question for you...

I appreciate your knowledge. I knew that if I posted this, that some experts would shine additional
light and put this story into context. So, thank you!

I am wondering about something. If you've got animal--->human and human---->animal H1N1 transmission, could this be
the catalyst for making the virus more dangerous? Could it cause the mutations that could make the virus more deadly?

Right now, H1N1 is very contagious. We're lucky it's not more deadly.

What causes viral mutations? And could these animal/human transmissions increase the likelihood of more deadly mutations
happening in H1N1.

Thank you for your time and any info. I so appreciate your expertise!

[winyanstaz]

16. Well it didn't just happen out of the thin blue sky......

How did these animals become infected in the first place? Are there some lab rats running amok? Someone infecting these animals? Is it on or in their food from the stores?

[Dorian Gray]

19. Poor kitty

my kitty sneezed earlier. Do I have to worry about H1n1? The swine? In '09?

(No... I'm not really worried.)

[RaleighNCDUer]

20. Isn't this how 'Planet of the Apes' started?

Dogs & cats died of a mysterious virus, so people started breeding apes as housepets - everything was fine until they TOOK OVER!