Golke A, Jańczak D, Szalu?-Jordanow O, Dzieci?tkow. Natural Infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A/H5N1 Virus in Pet Ferrets. Viruses. 2024; 16(6):931
The study involved five ferrets from one household in Poland, comprising three sick 9-week-old juveniles, their healthy mother, and another clinically normal adult, admitted to the veterinary clinic in June 2023. The juvenile ferrets displayed significant lethargy and a pronounced unwillingness to move with accompanying pulmonary distress. Prompted by concurrent outbreaks of A/H5N1 influenza virus infections in Polish cats, point-of-care tests were conducted that revealed type A influenza antigens in the throat swabs of all five ferrets. Despite treatment, one juvenile ferret exhibited dyspnea and neurological symptoms and eventually died. The two remaining ferrets recovered fully, including one severely affected showing persistent dyspnea and incoordination without fever that recovered after 11 days of treatment. In the RT-qPCR, the throat swabs collected from all surviving ferrets as well as the samples of lungs, trachea, heart, brain, pancreas, liver, and intestine of the succumbed ferret were found positive for A/H5N1 virus RNA. To our best knowledge, this is the first documented natural A/H5N1 avian influenza in domestic ferrets kept as pets. In addition, this outbreak suggests the possibility of asymptomatic A/H5N1 virus shedding by ferrets, highlighting their zoonotic potential and the advisability of excluding fresh or frozen poultry from their diet to reduce the A/H5N1 virus transmission risks.
See Also:
Latest articles in those days:
- Risk of infection of dairy cattle in the EU with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus affecting dairy cows in the United States of America (H5N1, Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b. ge 7 hours ago
- Avian influenza overview September - November 2025 7 hours ago
- [preprint]Airway organoids reveal patterns of Influenza A tropism and adaptation in wildlife species 7 hours ago
- Cats are more susceptible to the prevalent H3 subtype influenza viruses than dogs 9 hours ago
- Overview of high pathogenicity avian influenza H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in wildlife from Central and South America, October 2022-September 2025 10 hours ago
[Go Top] [Close Window]


