Cats may spread H5N1 to humans and vice versa
The Washington Post reported that cats infected with bird flu may have spread the virus to humans in the same household and vice versa, based on data that appeared briefly online in a report from the CDC before disappearing. The data appear to have been mistakenly posted but includes crucial information about the risks of bird flu to people and pets.
In one household, an infected cat may have transmitted the virus to another cat and a human teenager, according to data obtained by The New York Times. The cat succumbed to the illness four days after symptoms appeared. In a second household, the initial case involved an infected dairy farmworker, followed by a cat that became sick two days later and died on the third day.
This information was included in a single table referencing bird flu within a scientific report published Wednesday (5/2), which otherwise focused on air quality and the Los Angeles County wildfires. The table was absent from an embargoed version of the report shared with the media on Tuesday and does not appear in the current online versions. It briefly appeared when the paper was first posted, but the reasons for its inclusion or removal remain unclear.
