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JAKARTA : The US embassy on Wednesday warned its citizens to avoid cats in Indonesia following reports that they may carry the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
Indonesia is the country worst affected by avian influenza with 83 human infections and 63 deaths. Most victims have had close contact with infected poultry.
An Indonesian scientist recently discovered that 20 percent of live cats in areas which had been affected by bird flu, in poultry or humans, were infected with the virus.
"There have been confirmed reports that wild and stray cats have been shown to carry H5N1," the embassy said in a warning to US citizens in Indonesia.
"While there have been no documented cases of feline-to-human transmission of H5N1, it is important to avoid contact with wild and stray cats, and to ensure that domesticated cats do not eat or interact with sick or dying poultry," it said.
It said pet cats which mainly live indoors should not be at risk of catching bird flu.
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in the United States says two scientific reports have shown that domestic cats can become infected if they eat uncooked meat from H5N1-infected chickens and can pass the infection directly to other cats.
"None of the known strains of influenza virus are transmissible between cats and people," it says on its website, while warning that viruses are "very changeable by nature."
Scientists fear bird flu will mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, sparking a pandemic that could potentially kill millions.
According to the World Health Organisation, a total of 166 people have died of bird flu since 2003, out of 272 infections. - AFP/de
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