Word: influenza
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Public Health reported the first confirmed case of H1N1 in a house pet, a 13-year-old domestic shorthaired cat. The animal likely contracted the virus from its owners, veterinarians say, since two of the three family members living in the cat's household had recently suffered from influenza-like illness. Late last week, when the cat came down with flu-like symptoms - malaise, loss of appetite - its owners brought it to Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine for treatment. The family mentioned to the vet that they had also recently battled illness, which led to testing...
...H1N1 is a combination of influenza strains; one part originated in pigs, and another in birds. So far, only swine and ferrets, which are particularly susceptible to the flu, have become infected with H1N1.(See a photoessay about animal space travelers...
...clear how vulnerable cats, dogs and other household animals may be to the new virus, but the Iowa cat's case reinforces just how different H1N1 is from seasonal flu viruses. Although some household cats and certain wild cats in zoos have gotten ill with avian influenza, and dogs have their own canine version of the flu virus, pets don't normally get sick with the regular human flu. "There has never been a report of human seasonal influenza affecting cats or dogs," says Dr. Julie Levy, director of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine...
...possible that the Iowa cat's case may be a bellwether of future pet disease, but it's also possible it was just a fluke event. At the cat's advanced age, its immune system may not have been as adept at fending off influenza as that of a younger animal - similar to the vulnerability seen in aging humans. Still, says Dr. Ann Garvey, state public-health vet at the Iowa Department of Public Health, "We just don't know, we really don't." (Watch a video about a pet store in Gaza...
...what's baffling, say the study's authors, is that obesity does not stand out as a risk factor in severe cases of seasonal influenza. "A lot of us are puzzling over this, because this is not a trend with seasonal influenza in the limited studies that have been done in that area," says Louie. "It may be that H1N1 does cause more aggressive viral pneumonia, and some pathologic studies suggest this [H1N1] virus does have an affinity for receptors in the lower lung, but nobody really knows...