Bird flu case confirmed in domestic cat in New Orleans

A colorized transmission electron micrograph of avian influenza H5N1 viruses (seen in gold). (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

NEW ORLEANS – The state of Louisiana identified a case of a domestic cat with bird flu in New Orleans, according to a spokesperson from the city’s Health Department and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture database, the cat was collected on Jan. 7 and diagnosed with bird flu on Jan. 14.

The Louisiana Department of Health, which informed the city of the infection, referred Verite News to the agriculture and forestry department.

This is not the first case of bird flu in Louisiana. Along with previously reported infections of animals, a human case was recently reported in the state.

Early this month, the state health department announced that a person in Louisiana died from the bird flu, also known as H5N1. The patient had been hospitalized since December. It was the first time a severe human case of H5N1 and a death from this variant of the disease was reported in the United States.

State health officials said there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the case.

In its announcement at the time of the death, the LDH said that the person was over 65 and had underlying medical conditions. The person is believed to have contracted the infection after being exposed to a combination of backyard flocks and wild birds. The LDH also said that the current public health risk for the general public was low, but that people who work with birds, poultry or cows or have recreational exposure to them are at a higher risk of contracting the infection.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This article first appeared on Verite News New Orleans and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.