Mysterious Spread of Bird Flu in Cats in Poland, WHO Reports

[wnylib]

6. One thing that disturbs me about the presence of

bird flu in cats, besides my concern for cat welfare, is something that I read about at the early stages of the covid pandemic.

Covid was found in some wild big cats in Africa. They were being studied because of similarities in the immune systems of cats and humans. Later, a few domestic cats were found to have covid. But it was a milder infection for them than for humans. The official word was that domestic cats (pets and ferals) could not pass it on to humans. But there was also advice for people infected with covid to avoid continuous close contact with dogs and cats. There must have been some concern about people passing it on to them.

Every virus is different. Some pass easily between humans and animals and some don't. But when a virus passes from one class to another and the one that picks it up is, like humans, a mammal, that makes me nervous.