Austria said it has detected the potentially lethal strain of bird flu in several live cats. The discovery, in the southern state of Styria, follows the detection of H5N1 in a dead cat in Germany last week.
That case was thought to be the first example outside Asia of the virus crossing species to infect a mammal.

Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the spread of bird flu was unprecedented and the threat of a human pandemic would not go away.

Earlier on March 5, China said the H5N1 virus had killed a man in southern Guangdong province near Hong Kong. However, there had been no reported outbreaks in birds in the area where he died and experts in Hong Kong urged authorities to find the source.

The WHO has previously confirmed 94 human deaths from bird flu since late 2003. The virus remains essentially an animal disease which humans contract through close contact with infected birds. The virus is mutating and there are fears it may eventually change enough to be transmitted easily from human to human.

The virus is currently spreading rapidly among wild birds and has reached 15 new countries over the past month, moving across Europe and also hitting Egypt and West Africa.

CNN/BBC