» posted on 5:37pm - March 08 2006 | posted by Lev

Photo above: A bird sitting in a tree outside my kitchen window. I call them "disease bags" quite often, so I don't think they like me either. I've become a "speciesist"; that is like being racist only towards all bird species instead.

A domestic cat in Germany has become the first European Union mammal to die of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The cat was found dead at the weekend on the Baltic island of Ruegen, where dozens of birds infected with H5N1 have been found.

Further north, Sweden has detected "aggressive" bird flu in two wild ducks and is testing to confirm H5N1.

Meanwhile, vets from 50 countries have been meeting in Paris for a second day to discuss ways to combat the virus.

The H5N1 infection in the German cat was confirmed by officials at the national laboratory, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, but tests are continuing to determine if it is the exact strain that has been found in birds.

Laboratory chief Thomas Mettenleiter said pet owners on the island should keep cats inside for the time being.

Cats have been known to contract the virus from eating infected birds. Three rare civet cats in Vietnam died of bird flu last August. In October 2004, dozens of tigers died at a private zoo in Thailand after a bird flu outbreak.

There are no recorded cases of cat-to-human infection, but the German finding will raise concerns of further cross-species transmission.

'Pandemic'

In Sweden, the agriculture ministry said the virus detected in the ducks in the Oskarshamn region, 150 miles (250km) south of Stockholm, was a "highly pathogenic" version of the H5 virus that kills only birds.

The ministry said it suspected it would turn out to be H5N1, which can kill humans.

"This means that we have bird flu in Sweden. It's serious, but not unexpected," Agriculture Minister Ann-Christin Nykvist said.

Further tests are being carried out on the samples at the EU's laboratory in the UK.

At the Paris headquarters of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), chief veterinary officers from Europe, Iran, Kuwait and Azerbaijan have met to discuss how to co-ordinate their response to the spread of the disease.

OIE director-general Bernard Vallat told France's Le Monde newspaper that bird flu was transforming from "epidemic to pandemic".

"With the exception of Australia and New Zealand, which are not hit by bird migrations from affected areas, the rest of the world is directly exposed," he said.

On Tuesday, German government officials said H5N1 had been found in the southern state of Bavaria, the fifth German state to report cases.

And in Romania, samples of domestic fowl found to have the H5 virus were being tested for the H5N1 strain, the agriculture ministry confirmed.

H5N1 does not yet pose a large-scale threat to humans. However, experts fear the virus could mutate and trigger a flu pandemic, potentially putting millions of human lives at risk.

SOURCE: BBC

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This doesn't surprise me in the least either. I knew the virus would eventually arrive in Sweden and I'm quite sure it will continue to spread to at least all of Europe. I've been following the virus now quite in depth for more than 6 months. While it isn't a shock to me in anyway, it still isn't welcomed with open arms either. But it's here now so there isn't really anything I can do about it now. So far more than 20 people have died globally from the virus as well as millions of birds. The "worst case scenario" is that the virus will cross with a contagious human virus to create a strain which can be spread from human to human. Although as of now a human can only be infected from a bird or inhaling the birds shit. I've been hearing many people (even some in the local news) who appearantly think they are comedians and state "I won't eat birds now and won't eat their shit, so I'm not worried". This is somewhat of an ignorant statement as it has been shown that as long as the birds droppings are dry and the air is dry and you are in the area of an infected birds droppings, you run the risk of inhaling the virus through the air. I am slightly irritated by the general response by many people in Sweden. Many of them are suddenly in fear as it now affects them, yet many of them didn't even have a fucking idea or care about it when it was killing people in Asia, Greece and Turkey. Now, however, it directly affects them so everyone is on alert about it. It's rather dissapointing that unless something poses a direct threat to many people, they live in ignorance from it. I expect the same to happen when it finally arrives in the UK and even the US, if it does end up making it that far (which I believe it will).

It's not positive news, since many animals and humans are dying, but the most we can do is take it seriously and be cautious. Already in Sweden warnings have been issued advising people not to feed ducks at ponds and not to let your cats outside the house. People are also advised not to come into contact with any dead birds they may find and if they see a group of dead birds to report it as fast as possible. Many other countries in Europe are now issuing similar responses advising anyone to report any dead birds they find.

The UN has already estimated that as many as 300,000,000 people globally may end up dying from the virus if a worst case scenario occurs and the virus is spreadable from human to human.

What are your thoughts about the bird flu?

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