Two workers in dairy products in Michigan may have transmitted bird flu to pet cats last May, indicating a new study published Thursday by Disease Control and Prevention Centers.
In a household, infected cats may also have passed the virus to other people at home, but the limited elements make it difficult to ascertain the probability.
The results come from a study scheduled to be published in January, but was delayed by the cessation of Trump administration for communications by CDC
A single data table from the new report briefly appeared on the internet two weeks ago in a document on California fires and then disappeared quickly. This strange incident caused calls from public health experts to release the study.
The new paper still leaves important questions unanswered, including the way cats became infected for the first time and if farmers’ workers spread the virus to cats and other people in the household, experts said.
“I don’t think we can say with certainty if it is a human or a cat-human or from a cat-from-something-Else,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health.
Michigan officials began investigating two households last May, when exclusively internal cats showed respiratory and neurological symptoms and, after death, were positively tested for the virus, called H5N1. Officials interviewed cats and household members and offered to try them for the virus.
The owners of both cat were workers in dairy products. The first farm worker did not work with cows immediately and the farm was not known to have been infected herds. But the worker said that many of the barn cats at the farm facilities were recently died. The worker also said that he had experienced vomiting and diarrhea before the first cat’s cat was ill.
The second farm worker reported to splash the face and eyes with milk and experience eye irritation. Both workers refused to try.
“This study provides even more evidence that farmers with high -risk farmers can deny testing,” Dr. Nuzzo said.
“To protect people and stay in front of this virus, we need to remove disincentives for patients to be tested,” he added. “People should not be afraid that the positive test will cause financial discomfort or other personal damage.”
In the household of the first farm, the first cat to show that it showed a reduced appetite, lack of care, abnormal gait and lethargy and quickly deteriorated. It was euthanasia on the fourth day of illness.
A second cat in the household developed eye discharge, rapid breathing and reducing appetite four days after the sick cat. This cat was recovered and was not tested for the virus. A third cat had no symptoms and was adversely tested for the virus 11 days after the sick cat.
Neither the cats nor the people in the household drank non -pasteurized milk. The way cats may have been infected is unclear, but experts have said that farmers’ workers were likely to have been infected with H5N1 in their workplace and brought home to their cats.
“If you love your cat, you will probably give it kissing your head if it allows you,” said Krisn K. Coleman, a researcher of infectious diseases at the University of Maryland.
Three people in the household – adult and two teenagers – were negatively tested for H5N1. Six days after the first cat became ill, one of the teenagers became ill with cough, sore throat and body aches, and the other reported a cough attributed to allergies.
But because teenagers were tested slowly – 11 days after the first cat they got sick – it was not impossible to get infected by the H5N1 they took from the cats, Dr. Coleman said.
Later in May, a pet cat in the second household developed severe neurological symptoms, including anorexia and minimal movement, and died in a day. The cat was tested positive for bird flu after her death.
The owner of the cat carried non -pasteurized milk, including farms with well -known bird flu home. According to the study, the owner “did not wear personal protective equipment (PPE) while handling raw milk. Frequent reports on milk, eyes and clothes were reported. the work. “
The sick cat was known to “roll on the owner’s clothes”, the study noted.
The virus in raw milk torn in these clothes may be the source of cat infection, said Dr. Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Laboratory.
“At this point, I think the highest risk is their exposure from raw dairy products,” he said. “There is so much virus in milk.”
Of the 24 veterinary members of staff who were potentially exposed to infected cats, seven reported symptoms such as nasal congestion and headache. Only five agreed to try. Everything was negative.
Dr. Coleman advised veterinarians to remain alert for the possibility of bird flu infections when they see sick cats. “Pet owners should not be based on posthumous sampling to get a diagnosis,” he said.
