{"id":33174,"date":"2016-12-26T08:56:55","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T13:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=33174"},"modified":"2016-12-26T08:56:58","modified_gmt":"2016-12-26T13:56:58","slug":"state-cats-exposed-to-avian-flu-in-quarantine-in-chesco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=33174","title":{"rendered":"State: Cats exposed to avian flu in quarantine in Chesco"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Veterinarians at Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Agriculture have confirmed\u00a0that almost a dozen\u00a0cats\u00a0that\u00a0may have been exposed to an avian-type influenza virus in New York City shelters\u00a0have been\u00a0placed in special quarantine\u00a0in\u00a0one of three\u00a0animal shelters in Chester County.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0low-pathogenic\u00a0influenza\u00a0virus\u00a0does\u00a0not pose a\u00a0health hazard\u00a0to people, according to the Pennsylvania Department\u00a0of Health,\u00a0however,\u00a0health officials\u00a0reminded citizens to wash their hands thoroughly and exercise precautions recommended during flu season–especially for those people\u00a0who may have come into contact with\u00a0the quarantined\u00a0cats that originated from the New York shelters or were exposed to cats from these shelters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Agriculture department is involved because\u00a0the North American\u00a0H7N2\u00a0virus\u00a0has been sequenced and is reportedly identical to the virus found in\u00a0turkeys and chickens\u00a0in\u00a0Pennsylvania and Virginia during the\u00a02002-2003\u00a0winter season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe cats\u00a0we’re testing and monitoring\u00a0were\u00a0transferred\u00a0last month\u00a0from an\u00a0animal\u00a0shelter\u00a0in New York\u00a0before\u00a0some of the cats\u00a0developed\u00a0symptoms similar to a head cold or mild case of the flu.\u00a0The cats have a low-pathogenic\u00a0variety of the\u00a0avian influenza\u00a0virus,\u201d explained State Veterinarian Dr. David Wolfgang.\u00a0\u201cFortunately, we have no indication that any\u00a0poultry\u00a0flocks have been exposed\u00a0to an infected cat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There have been no reports of infected cats spreading the virus to other species, nor has the department received any information to suggest that the virus is causing any human illness, even among people in close contact with the cats. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0sick\u00a0cats are being treated and are expected to recover fully. In the meanwhile,\u00a0the Agriculture department\u00a0has placed\u00a0quarantines on three shelters in Chester County\u00a0and has\u00a0recommended that\u00a0cat adoptions\u00a0from those shelters should be\u00a0postponed\u00a0until further notice.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Agriculture department is working with the three shelters to obtain records of any cats leaving these shelters since mid-November, when the\u00a0affected\u00a0cats\u00a0were diagnosed. Representatives from the Agriculture department will contact\u00a0anyone\u00a0who\u00a0has adopted or\u00a0fostered\u00a0cats from these shelters.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring our outreach to those who have adopted or fostered any cats from these shelters, we ask whether they have backyard poultry or contact with commercial poultry flocks. If so, we will follow\u00a0our normal avian influenza protocols,\u00a0which involves\u00a0treating the poultry as potentially exposed to\u00a0avian influenza,\u201d Wolfgang explained. \u201cWe\u00a0would\u00a0quarantine the poultry and test\u00a0samples\u00a0at least 14 days after the cat(s) arrived in the home.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For\u00a0the latest\u00a0information on avian influenza, visit The Department of Agriculture\u2019s Animal Health and Diagnostic Services page at AHDServices.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veterinarians at Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Agriculture have confirmed\u00a0that almost a dozen\u00a0cats\u00a0that\u00a0may have been exposed to an avian-type influenza virus in New York City shelters\u00a0have been\u00a0placed in special quarantine\u00a0in\u00a0one of three\u00a0animal shelters in Chester County.\u00a0 The\u00a0low-pathogenic\u00a0influenza\u00a0virus\u00a0does\u00a0not pose a\u00a0health hazard\u00a0to people, according to the Pennsylvania Department\u00a0of Health,\u00a0however,\u00a0health officials\u00a0reminded citizens to wash their hands thoroughly and exercise precautions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9284,29,9283],"class_list":["post-33174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-avian-flu","tag-chester-county","tag-state-department-of-argiculture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33175,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33174\/revisions\/33175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}