China on alert after cats are infected in Indonesia

Veterinary workers in China are monitoring domestic animals after Indonesia reported that avian influenza had been detected in a large number of cats.

The discovery has heightened concerns about a virus that experts had thought was basically infecting chickens, ducks and other fowl.

"We are surprised to hear that so many cats were discovered to have the virus," Wang Changjiang, a veterinary official with the Ministry of Agriculture, told China Daily.