Bird Flu Found in Weasel-Like Mammal

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Bird Flu Found in Weasel-Like Mammal

BERLIN - The H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in a weasel-like

mammal called a stone marten, a German laboratory said Thursday,

indicating the disease has spread to another animal species.

The Friedrich-Loeffler Institute confirmed the presence of the virus

in the marten, a carnivorous mammal with brown fur and a white throat

patch. The animal was found sick and apparently dying on the island

of Ruegen in northern Germany on March 2.

It was then killed by a government veterinarian, the institute said

in a statement.

The deadly strain of bird flu was found in a cat on the same island

last month, the first time the virus has been identified in an animal

other than a bird in central Europe. Infected cats have since been

found in Austria.

" The presence of an H5N1 infection in a second mammalian species is

not surprising, " Till Backhaus, the regional minister for

agriculture, said in a statement. " Cats and martens have a comparable

prey spectrum. "

Cats are believed to have caught the virus by eating infected birds.

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