A US animal feed manufacturer has voluntarily recalled cat food after the Oregon Department of Agriculture tested samples of the feed positive for the H5N1 strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI). Tests confirmed that a house cat in Washington County contracted H5N1 and died after consuming the raw, frozen animal feed, the department said. A genetic match between the virus in the raw and frozen animal feed and the infected cat was also proven.
“This cat was a pure house cat” said state veterinarian Ryan Scholz. “It was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and the genomic sequencing results confirmed that the virus from the raw pet food and the infected cat is exactly the same.”
Experts closely monitor the H5N1 virus because of its potential to cause a deadly pandemic in humans. Currently, the virus lacks certain mutations to adapt for a human outbreak. Despite the widespread distribution of the virus in animals over the past few months, these mutations have not yet occurred, casting doubt on the virus’s ability to trigger a pandemic.
In the US, 67 human cases of avian influenza infection have been confirmed, mostly affecting farm workers. Recently, two new mutations were discovered in a Canadian case, meeting one of several conditions for human-to-human transmission.
The animal infection wave in the US is largely out of control. New estimates suggest the virus kills about 2 to 5 percent of infected dairy cows, reducing herd milk production by about 20 percent.