CDC posts, then delete data on bird flu transmission between cats and people

Cats that were infected with a bird of flu could spread the virus to people in the same household and vice versa, according to the data that briefly appeared in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, but then suddenly disappeared. It seems that the data has been incorrectly published, but they contain key information about the risk of influenza birds for people and pets.

In one household, an infected cat could spread the virus to another cat and human teenager, according to a copy of the data table obtained by the Recent York Times. The cat died four days after the symptoms began. In the second household, an infected agricultural worker seems to be the first to show the symptoms, and then the cat fell ill two days later and died on the third day.

The table was a lonely mention of bird flu in a scientific report published on Wednesday, which was otherwise dedicated to air quality and fire fires of Los Angeles. The table was not present in the embarrassment of the article made available to the media on Tuesday and is not included in the versions currently available online. The table appeared briefly around 13:00, when the article was published, but it is not clear how and why an error could occur.

The virus, called H5N1, is primarily adapted to birds, but has been circulating with dairy cattle since the beginning of last year. H5N1 also got infected with at least 67 Americans, but it is not yet possible to easily spread among people. Only one American in Louisian has died of H5N1 infection so far.

The report was part of the prestigious CDC incidence and mortality report, which he regularly published up to two weeks ago every week from the first installment ten years ago. But the ban on communication at the agency stopped the reports until the Wildfire report was published on Wednesday.

Experts said that the discovery that cats could donate the virus to people was not completely unexpected. But they were concerned that the discovery was not yet published in public.

“If there is modern evidence about H5N1, which were created for political purposes, it is simply completely contrary to the government’s responsibility, which is the protection of the American nation,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health.

It was crucial that CDC immediately published full data and context in which they were collected to other scientists, she said.

Scientists have long known that cats are very susceptible to the virus. At least 85 domestic cats He has been infected From the end of 2022, according to the US Department of Agriculture. But before, there were no documented cases of the virus to transfer the virus to people.

“Considering the number of cats in the USA and close contact with people, there is definitely a need to understand potential risk,” said Dr. Diego Diel, a veterinarian and virologist from Cornell University.

Although cats can be infected when they feed on infected wild birds, cases among domestic cats in the United States began to grow last year, when the virus spreads by dairy farms. On many farms, dead cats were the first signal that the cows were infected. The last few cases in PET cats have also been associated with contaminated raw animal food or raw milk.

H5N1 is often fatal in cats, which can develop severe neurological symptoms.

Historically, H5N1 affected birds above all. But over the past few years, modern versions of the virus have proved to be able to infect a wide range of mammals, including wild and domestic cats, seals and dairy cows. Infections in mammals give the virus more evolution opportunities in a way that could allow people to infect easier.