First cases of avian influenza virus in domestic cats have been detected in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara, but senior officials clarified on Thursday that their owners reportedly remain unaffected.
The owners of three to four cats that tested positive for H5NI in Madhya Pradesh have not been afflicted with the ailment, news agency PTI quoted a senior official as saying on Thursday.
Nevertheless, mutation of the H5N1 virus from birds to mammals has raised concerns that it could come to affect humans as well.
“The blood, nasal and anal swabs of three to four cats sent from Chhindwara to the ICAR-National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal in January have returned positive for H5NI. However, their owners have tested negative,” MP animal husbandry department director PS Patel told PTI.
Patel said that after the cats tested positive for the avian flu, the health authorities in the state had quarantined the owners and monitored them.
“We have, however, not lowered our guard. We have been periodically sending samples of cats and birds from Chhindwara and elsewhere in MP but none of them have tested positive for the avian virus. There is no need to worry or get panicky about its mutation to humans right now,” Patel said.
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Study finds 27 mutations in H5N1 virus that infected domestic cats
Scientists from ICAR-NIHSAD and the Union government’s animal husbandry department documented the H5N1 cases found in domestic cats in Chhindwara. The MP district borders Maharashtra’s Nagpur, where several big cats were affected by the avian flu.
According to the study, the 2.3.2.1a variant of the H5N1 virus was found to have affected the domestic cats in Chhindwara, making it the first such documented instance of it happening in India, Times of India reported.
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The study found that the cats succumbed to the illness in one to three days after showing symptoms like high fever, loss of appetite, and lethargy. The study also found 27 mutations in the variant affecting the cats from the one generally found in poultry.
According to the scientists, this calls for keeping a vigilant eye on poultry, wild birds, and mammals, including humans, as the virus has shown the ability to jump between species.