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Government authorities in Austria have reported that three cats have tested positive for the deadly strain of bird flu. It is the first case of the disease spreading to an animal other than a bird, according to the government. The ill felines were among 170 that were living in an animal shelter. The World Health Organization considers bird flu the greatest global threat than any prior infectious disease. The disease has cost global agriculture more than $10 billion and has affected the livelihoods of more than 300 million farmers. Poland reported that country's first outbreak of bird flu indicating that lab tests confirmed that two wild swans died of the disease. Dr. Margaret Chan, who heads the WHO effort fighting bird flu, told experts gathered in Geneva to discuss bird flu that preparations against the disease was the WHO's top priority at the present time. The WHO was committed to preventing the strain from mutating into a deadly form that could easily pass between human beings. Such a mutation would trigger a global pandemic, according to the WHO. |
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