Austrian cat has bird flu but no symptoms of the virus

The Austrian health minister says a cat in an animal sanctuary in the southern state of Styria, has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus but as yet they has shown no symptoms of the disease.

Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat says the cat was among 170 others in cages next to birds, including the swan that died of the disease, and chickens and ducks found to have the virus following a cull last month.

Initial tests were positive for three of the cats, but later tests confirmed the virus only in one.

The minister says all the cats are in quarantine and are being closely monitored. They are watching whether the cats become ill or are merely carriers of the virus.

The remaining cats will now be tested as well as all the dogs at the sanctuary.

Experts say it is not clear how, when or where the infected cat caught the virus.

Animals who carry the H5N1 virus without showing any signs of ill health could make it tricky to detect and contain bird flu and there is the added worry that the longer the virus remains in a mammal, the greater the risk of it mutating into a more dangerous form.

At present bird flu remains essentially an animal disease which humans contract through close contact with infected birds.

It has killed 95 people since late 2003 and made almost 200 sick.

Experts however believe the virus is mutating and fear it may eventually mutate enough to be transmitted easily from human to human, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.

The first European case of H5N1 bird flu in a domestic cat was reported last week on the northern German island of Ruegen, an area where several wild birds have died from the virus.

Experimental studies suggest the cats could be infected with the virus when they eat the raw meat of infected birds.

The World Health Organisation says though there is still much to be learned about cats and their possible role in spreading bird flu, so far there have been no examples of cats infecting humans.