SCIENTISTS trying to find ways to avoid the spread of avian 'flu - if it strikes - in the UK want to carry out a research programme into how much of its spread to humans could be caused by cats.

Concern over risk posed by birds eaten by
cats

Although there is little chance of an outbreak in the UK before the autumn, when migrating birds from the Asian steppes fly in to over-winter in Europe, the rural affairs department Defra has set up a scientific committee to investigate how the deadly H5N1 form of the virus spreads from birds to humans.

Investigations already carried out in South East Asia - where more than 100 people are known to have died from the disease and where there could have been many more unreported deaths - have shown that cats which have eaten diseased birds can pass on the virus to other contacts.

One of the most dramatic outbreaks of the illness to members of the cat family involved the death of almost 150 captive tigers in Thailand which had been fed on chickens carrying the virus.

British experts play down the risk of a major epidemic breaking out in the UK but Defra is anxious to explore ways of limiting its spread should one occur. And one likely action would be to urge pet-owners to keep their cats indoors in case they catch and eat infected birds.

But the group admits that it would be much more difficult to control the movements of farm cats or feral cats living wild in the British countryside.

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