31.10.2023

Nature Communications | 2023

On July 25th and 31st, 2023, highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) infection, which has the potential to cause fatal disease in humans, was confirmed in two cat shelters in Seoul, South Korea. Briefly, at the cat shelter where the infection was first confirmed (Shelter 1), 38 out of the 40 cats died within a month, with the time between two consecutive deaths being ≤2 days13. This surge in deaths prompted the owner of Shelter 1 and its veterinarian to suspect a cause other than common respiratory infections in cats. Samples from two of the cats that had died from suspected respiratory infections were sent to a private diagnostic laboratory and confirmed to contain HPAI A(H5N1) virus by the Laboratory of Virology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University. Then, the infection was confirmed again by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA).
Several days later, a veterinarian reported respiratory symptoms in a cat from another shelter in Seoul (Shelter 2), and HPAI A(H5N1) infection was subsequently confirmed by the APQA. As of October 2023, influenza A(H5N1) infection has been confirmed in five cats from Shelter 1 and four cats from Shelter 2, all of which were reported to have died.