Cat gets bird flu

I have just heard the BBC evening News report about a cat that has been found dead and was infected with the H5N1 virus. This again shows that the virus is perfectly capable of jumping the species barrier into mammals. This is not good news and further evidence that this particular virus is pretty robust. If small mammals, like a pet cat can carry the virus then what other types of mammal could become affected. Pets could become infected and bring the virus home where it could be transmitted to humans. More than 90 people have already died of the H5N1 infection with a death rate of about 50%.