Feline to Feline Transmission of H5N1.
Recombinomics Commentary
September 25, 2004
The story linked below discusses the ability of avian influenza to infect cats. This is not unexpected because of the H5N1 isolates from a leopard and tiger in Thailand earlier in the year. The H5N1 from the wild cats was virtually identical from another H5N1 isolate from a bird in Thailand. Moreover, the unique polymorphisms found in these three isolates have also been found in mammalian flu viruses, including H1N2.
Thus, these recombinants are much like the other recombinants in Thailand and Asia that have acquired mammalian polymorphisms and expanded their host range. Recombination, not re-assortment, is driving the pandemic in Asia.
Media link