Health
Bird Flu Kills Dairy Workers’ Cats, Suggesting a Viral Change
A barn cat sits on a worker's shoulder inside the dairy barn at a farm in Ancramdale, New York.
Photographer: Angus Mordant/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Two house cats died after contracting bird flu in the homes of dairy workers, a troubling sign that the virus may be moving between species and becoming more widespread.
The cats’ owners lived in separate households in Michigan and developed symptoms of H5N1 last May, according to a report released Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both worked on farms that had cases of bird flu and displayed symptoms before the cats fell ill, but declined testing.