# 423
The FAO (the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization) has issued an advisory on cats and the H5N1 virus. They are advising that cats be monitored, and separated from poultry in areas where the virus has been found.
They are not advising the culling of cats, and warn that could lead to a surge in the rodent population.
This from the FAO website. The entire newsbrief is worth reading, I've only presented an excerpt.
Avian influenza in cats should be closely monitored
So far no sustained virus transmission in cats or from cats to humans
8 February 2007, Rome - Cats can become infected with the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus, but at present there is no scientific evidence to suggest that there has been sustained transmission of the virus in cats or from cats to humans, FAO said in a statement today.
As a precautionary measure, FAO recommended that in areas where the H5N1 virus has been found in poultry or wild birds, cats should be separated from infected birds until the danger has passed. On commercial poultry premises cats should even be kept indoors.
The agency advised against killing cats as a virus control option because there is nothing to suggest that cats are transmitting the virus in a sustained way. Removing cats could lead to a surge in rodents such as rats, which are an agricultural pest and often transmit diseases to humans.
Unconfirmed reports that H5N1 infection has been detected in a high prevalence in cats in Indonesia has caused some alarm. The scavenging cats were sampled in the vicinity of poultry markets in Java and Sumatra where outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza had recently occurred.
