Avian influenza virus variants on pigs and cats

Yesterday, Chinese scientists confirmed that two sick pigs in Bali (Indonesia) were indeed caused by bird flu. Viruses in two pigs are a variant of H5N1.

Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a famous Chinese medical expert, said that this means that people infected with bird flu can also produce variant viruses because some pig organs are close to human.

The virologist Albert Osterhaus asserted: 'We know that the 1918 Spanish flu (which killed 50 million people worldwide) was caused by a mutated bird virus that could be transmitted from person to person. the person through the middle animal is the pig '. Meanwhile, Osterhaus, who was also the first to find a cat-and-bird relationship, analyzed: 'For H5N1, the path of variation could be through cats.'

On 25 January, Indonesian scientists also warned cats could transmit bird flu to humans. When studying 500 wild cats in areas of bird flu in Indonesia, Dr. Chairul Anwar Nidom - of Airlangga University - found that 20% of these cats have H5N1 antibodies.

Moving poultry down for sale in Makassar market, southern Sulawesi province, Indonesia (Photo: AFP)

MINH HUY