- The cattle were infected with the D1.1 strain of H5N1, which has been
Update: Potential Cat-to-Human and Human-to-Cat H5N1 Flu Transmission?
Earlier today I wrote about a New York Times story about some interesting H5N1 flu transmission data from the US CDC that was posted briefly on Wednesday and was then quickly removed from the CDC website. The information suggested they’d identified cat-to-human and human-to-cat transmission of H5N1 flu in two separate households, both of
Cat-to-Human and Human-to-Cat H5N1 Flu Transmission in the US?
Cat-to-human or human-to-cat transmission of H5N1 influenza would be concerning but not too surprising.
Suppression of information by the US government would be concerning but not surprising given what’s going on at the moment.
But, did those occur?
The sharp eyes at the New York Times have raised concerns, because they spotted a CDC report
H5N1 Influenza in Another Cat: Oregon
Addendum: The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association has indicated in a release that the cat discussed below was euthanized because of the severity of disease. That’s more consistent with the severe disease that’s usually reported but I think the discussion below still applies since this seems to have been an initial primary respiratory disease presentation. It
PCR Testing for H5N1 Influenza in Cats and Dogs
- For cats and dogs, the recommended
US FDA Raw Pet Diet Directive
The FDA has issued a directive to pet food producers to ensure that their food safety plans address H5N1 influenza contamination issues. It’s in response to multiple cases of H5N1 avian influenza in domestic and wild cats fed contaminated raw diets containing poultry. Infection was fatal in many of these cats, and this also
Influenza Vaccination in Dogs: Cross Protection Against H5N1?
TLDR: Nope.
These days I commonly get the question ”Does vaccination of dogs with available canine influenza vaccines protect them from H5N1 avian flu?” While we don’t have any hard data on this, we still have a pretty good idea of the answer.
One of the challenges with flu vaccination (in any
Culling Considerations in Disease Outbreak Response: Take 2
My post earlier this week about culling considerations for control of disease outbreaks in animals generated some good discussion and ideas (and a surprisingly small number of “you’re an idiot” emails). Although that post was focused primarily on culling in response to influenza outbreaks, we can also think about it little more broadly
To Cull or Not to Cull: Managing H5N1 in an Era of Endemicity
The recent situation has raised more discussion about the role of mass culling in response to H5N1 influenza infection in domestic / captive birds. After H5N1 flu was identified on an ostrich farm in British Columbia, the CFIA ordered all 400 birds to be culled, but the owner is trying to find options to preserve
Recall of Yet Another High Pressure-Pasteurized Raw Pet Food Diet
Blue Ridge Beef has (again) recalled a diet because of Salmonella contamination – this time a kitten diet. As is often the case, the issue was identified after a pet that was fed the diet got sick. This follows a recall of a puppy diet from the same company in December for Salmonella contamination was