It ’s difficult to explicate exactly how it happened , but 386 New York City shelter cat have contracted a rarified avian flu that had never before been seen in khat , and had not been ascertain in any beast at all in over 10 twelvemonth .
In November , a gray - striped kitten at a Bronx animal protection namedAlfredcame down with the grippe , a var. called H7N2 last determine in 2006 at poultry markets in New York and elsewhere . He pass away on November 12 , and the virus chop-chop spread throughout the city ’s tax shelter population .
Now , The New York Times story , the entire feline population of New York City ’s tax shelter arrangement — some 500 big cat — is being housed at a temporary quarantine center in Queens . The Times key out it as “ something out of a post - apocalyptic bozo video . ”
The computer virus is a mild form of H7N2 and is normally not life - jeopardize to cats . allot to the CDC , it is onlyrarely transmissible to humansand have little more than flimsy sickness . Only one someone has tested positive for the virus so far in the current outbreak , a veterinarian who was working with the unbalanced cat-o'-nine-tails .
But the mystery of how a line of avian flu abruptly infect such a large population of New York City ’s cats is still cause for business concern .
“ Any time influenza viruses set out to behave in an unusual agency , there ’s a concern about what might happen , ” Aleisha Swartz , a doctor from theUniversity of Wisconsinveterinary school , told The New York Times . “ There ’s this computer virus that popped up , and if we did n’t respond , it could have become far-flung in cats all over the place . ”
For cats , the main symptomsare a runny nozzle , congestion , coughing and lip smack . The cats can leave once they are determined to be flu free , which could take week .
[ The New York Times ]
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