Keep your dogs on leashes and cats indoors, pet owners told amid unprecedented avian flu outbreak
Cats should be kept indoors and dogs on a lead – if you want to protect them from bird flu, European health chiefs have warned.
The global bird flu outbreak has devastated both domestic and wild birds, causing millions of deaths in 67 countries, including the UK.
Scientists have also sounded the alarm about bird flu deaths among wild mammals, such as foxes, which can contract the virus by hunting sick birds or scavenging the dead.
Now the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has urged pet owners to keep their cats indoors and dogs on a leash while walking to avoid the same risks.
The warning was prompted by a spate of cats in Poland that tested positive for avian flu in June, with 9 dying as a result.
Keep your furious friends locked up or on a leash to protect them from bird flu. European health chiefs have warned
This map shows all known cases of non-human mammals infected with bird flu since 2016, stars indicate events leading to deaths from the virus
While the source of the outbreak has yet to be confirmed, European health chiefs noted that about half of the cats had been fed raw poultry by their owners, which could have transmitted the virus to the felines.
No cat-to-cat or cat-to-human transmission of avian flu has yet been confirmed in the cases, the officials added.
Another study, this time from an avian flu-infected farm in Italy, also found five dogs and cats there had antibodies to the disease.
EFSA said: ‘It is recommended to avoid exposure of domestic cats and dogs, and carnivorous pets in general, to dead or diseased animals (mammals and birds), and to prevent domestic cats and dogs from consuming offal and raw meat from wild or farmed animals. feeding birds.’
It added: ‘Possible measures include keeping dogs on a leash and confining cats indoors in areas where extensive spread of HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1) viruses in wild birds has been confirmed.’
Genetic analysis of both the Polish and Italian outbreaks showed that the highly contagious bird flu strain that was spreading around the world, called HPAI A(H5N1), was responsible.
A National Trust ranger clears dead birds from Staple Island, Northumberland, during an outbreak of avian flu last July
British scientists charged with developing ‘early human transmission scenarios’ of bird flu have warned that 5 per cent of people infected could die if the virus takes off in humans (shown in scenario three). In another scenario, the scientists assumed that 1 percent of those infected would be hospitalized and 0.25 percent would die — similar to how deadly Covid was in the fall of 2021 (scenario one). The other saw a 2.5 percent mortality rate (scenario two)
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Health chiefs said this could indicate the virus is adapting to better infect mammals.
This, EFSA added, affected not only wildlife, but also pets, and by extension their owners.
“Pets infected with HPAI A (H5N1) virus may pose a potential risk of exposure to other animals and pet owners,” they said.
EFSA also recommended further health monitoring of pets in areas with a high incidence of avian flu and for avian flu testing of pet owners exposed to infected dogs and cats.
People in the UK have been advised not to touch dead or sick wild birds and to wash their hands thoroughly if necessary to reduce the risk of contracting the disease.
There is no official guidance or advice in Britain regarding the interaction of cats or dogs with wild birds, similar to EFSA’s recommendations.
UK health authorities have maintained that the overall risk to humans from avian influenza remains low.
However, scientists fear that if bird flu ever makes the leap to humans, it could kill up to one in 20 people infected, according to models by British experts.