State Institute of Health (SZÚ) in a report on the spread of respiratory infections warned against the possibility of bird flu transmission to feral cats. In Poland, they say information 28 scientists there were infected in June, some died. Humans should monitor cats for neurological or respiratory signs.

“In cases of illness in domestic cats that have the opportunity to hunt, in cases of serious respiratory diseases, wasting, neurological symptoms, consult the treating veterinarian about possible virological tests,” he said in the SZÚ report.

This year, 23 outbreaks of bird flu were gradually announced on the territory of the Czech Republic in poultry farms and in captive bird farms. The last confirmed outbreak was on May 12 at a small poultry farm in Kladno-Švermov in the Central Bohemia region. Since July 20, the Czech Republic has been officially classified by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) as a bird flu-free country.

According to SZÚ, in the past it was not only poultry, but also wild birds or small animals that died from bird flu. In Finland, infection was demonstrated in fur farms with mink, fox, and raccoon dogs, more than 185,000 animals were infected. More than 16,000 sea lions have died on South American beaches. A dog is infected in Canada but is asymptomatic. According to the World Health Organization, so far there have been 12 cases of bird flu transmission to humans.

In Poland, the infected cats displayed the same neurological symptoms that experts had previously observed in foxes. These include seizures, leg stiffness, unreactive pupils, fever, shortness of breath or loss of appetite.

“Sick cats are caught in multiple locations, and the only link is feeding meat from one chain,” says SZÚ. However, according to scientists, it cannot be proven conclusively that cats get infected from the meat they eat.

Bird flu is a viral disease of animals, mainly birds, but it also occurs in pigs, dogs and cats. Among wild birds, the disease most commonly affects wild geese and ducks, which have been carriers of the disease for several centuries and the virus is not as dangerous to them as poultry. Bird flu, known in the 19th century as the bird plague, is caused by a type A influenza virus. The particularly dangerous subtype of the virus is called H5N1.

If the virus spreads outside of the poultry farm, the animals may find dead birds. “In this context, it is important not to touch dead birds and not to allow dogs and cats to come into close contact with carcasses,” SZÚ wrote. Mass deaths of carnivorous birds or mammals that occur near such outbreaks are reported to the State Animal Administration or city police.

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