Zoonotic diseases can spread from animals, including the ones we consume or keep as pets, including cats. Why are we talking about cats today? It is because of the increasing numbers of bird flu in the United States, cats of all shapes and sizes have come down with bird flu.

Bird flu was seen in poultry, where chickens have been affected, and even cows too. Why is it a concern for cats? This is because barn cats drink raw milk. In recent days, 20 wild cats at a Washington State animal sanctuary that ate infected birds and other reports of indoor cats dying from eating contaminated food have come out.

Why do cats get bird flu?

One of the leading causes is that unlike dogs, cats hunt for smaller prey, which includes birds and mice, carriers of bird flu. Dr Michael Bailey, the president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), in a guidance released for cat owners noted that by their very nature, cats have more "opportunity" to ger infected with bird flu.

“We don't know if the cats are more susceptible than anybody else,” he said. “It's just the fact they're exposed to higher viral burdens because of where they go.”

Reports say that domestic cats have been bird flu virus carrier since 2004. Kristen Coleman, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health told a media outlet that before, about half of cats died, and now with the spreading of the bird flu even in cows, about 90% of them seem to be dying. Coleman has also been tracking the deaths. She has also shared 4 main tips to protect pets from bird flu which includes:

• Do not touch or allow pets to touch sick or dead animals or animal dropping
• Do not consume, or feed your pet, raw meat or milk
• Keep a close watch on free-roaming outdoor pets
• Immediately report rabies-like symptoms to a veterinarian

Are there symptoms of bird flu in cats one should look out for?

As per AVMA, pet owners must look out for signs like:

• Loss of appetite
• Lethargy
• Fever

Bird flu infection can also progress with neurologic signs, which includes:

• Tremors
• Seizures
• Not being coordinated
• Blindness

Cats may also suffer from:

• Severe depression
• Discharge from their eyes or nose
• Respiratory symptoms which includes rapid breathing, shortness of breath, and sneezing or coughing

Are humans at threat?

Sick animals may also be able to transmit influenza virus to humans through their saliva, excretion and other bodily fluids. People can also get infected by breathing in the virus or by touching something that has virus on it and then touching their eyes, mouth, or nose.

If you think your cat might have bird flu—or any other infectious disease—try to limit their contact with other pets and people in your household, especially those with weakened immune systems, until you get advice from a veterinarian, as recommended by the AVMA. While the chances of cats transmitting H5N1 to humans are extremely low, they aren’t zero.

According to CDC guidance, keep an eye on yourself and your family for flu-like symptoms and reach out to a healthcare provider if needed. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling your cat or cleaning their litter box and bedding.

Healthcare in India must move beyond curative treatments to include preventive and holistic health, said experts today.

Speaking at a public health event in New Delhi, organized by the Illness to Wellness Foundation, the experts stressed the need to integrate technology, tradition, and lifestyle interventions to build a healthier, more resilient population in the country.

“Healthcare is not limited to curative treatments. It includes preventive, promotive, palliative, and rehabilitative care, much of which happens within the community,” said Rajesh Bhushan, Former Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

He called for building a culture of health-seeking behavior through community-focused programs and technology integration.

“Technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery, when combined with systems of digital public health infrastructure, including the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA), which enable interoperability, longitudinal health records, and a more integrated healthcare ecosystem,” Bhushan added.

India today stands at a critical juncture in its healthcare journey. Rapid urbanization, changing lifestyles, rising stress levels, and increasing screen time are contributing to a growing burden of chronic conditions.

The experts argued that the real challenge will be to prevent disease and enable people to live healthier, longer, and more balanced lives.

Anil Rajput, Chairperson, Advisory Council, Illness to Wellness Foundation, urged for a more personalized and holistic understanding of health to build effective preventive systems.

Building Awareness On Healthcare

Dr. T S Kler, Chairman & HOD – BLK-Max Heart & Vascular Institute and Chairman Pan Max – Electrophysiology, spoke about the importance of leveraging public healthcare systems not only for treatment, but also for building awareness around health and prevention.

Amid rising cases of premature deaths linked to lifestyle risks and environmental factors, the experts advised keeping health as the foremost priority, far above all else.

"We must move towards an integrated, holistic model that combines allopathy with traditional systems of medicine, ensuring a more balanced and patient-centric approach. Equally important is the need to create greater awareness through continuous dialogue and education, as a lot can be achieved with the resources we already have,” said Dr. Kler, a Padma Bhushan awardee.

“The real shift we need is from managing disease to building a culture of health ownership. As stakeholders across sectors, our role is not just to develop systems, but to create awareness and belief that preventive and person-centric healthcare is achievable,” added Dr. Ravi Gaur, Co-Chair, FICCI Digital Health Task Force.

The event also featured a series of thematic discussions examining multiple dimensions of holistic health and well-being.

These include conversations around mental health as a critical component of productivity and daily life, with a focus on managing stress, addressing burnout, supporting students, and fostering more open and supportive environments across workplaces and educational institutions.

While the statistics for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are alarming, what is even more alarming is the lack of recognition and timely intervention.

Many parents whose children are diagnosed with ASD have common statements – "I just didn’t ignore the signs, I did not know they were signs", when my child did not respond to his name, I just thought he was busy in play, when he did not talk by a particular age I just felt its ok, kids talk late and if it’s a boy, they always talk late. Many boys in my family spoke late."

While these statements are real, they are alarming and indicate that ASD signs are not obvious and can be missed. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects approximately one in 68 Indian children aged 2-9 years, equating to about 18 million individuals nationwide, with diagnoses often delayed until age 4-5 due to limited screening and awareness gaps.

This lag overlooks subtle early signs amid typical toddler behaviors and cultural norms, forfeiting a prime window for interventions that profoundly influence lifelong development.

Why Early Signs Are Overlooked

The signs for ASD should be recognized before the age of two as there are many indications which parents miss or do not want to address. Parents frequently ignore subtle cues such as reduced eye contact or lack of social smiling by 6 – 9 months sometimes calling their kids shy or introvert.

By 12 months, if a child does not respond to their name or by 14 months, there is an absence of pointing and gesturing, these are signs not to be ignored. Repetitive

behaviors like obsessively lining up toys, spinning wheels, or fixating on objects should be treated, not looked as harmless quirks or strong preferences.

Sensory sensitivities, such as aversion to loud noises, scratchy fabrics, or bright lights, manifest as tantrums or fussiness, especially in bustling Indian homes where joint families normalize varied child responses.

Surveys reveal over 50 percent of Indian cases go undiagnosed before preschool, due to lack of awareness (especially in rural areas) and stigma around developmental labels.

A Real Life Case

Aditya has some signs when he was a kid such as delayed speech, repetitive play patterns, and sensitivity to loud noises. On evaluation, it was recognized that as he grew older when academic needs increased, Aditya began experiencing several issues such as anxiety, meltdowns, and reduced school performance. He became more withdrawn and struggled with group activities.

Critical Need for Screening Before Age Three

The case in point addresses the fact that a child's brain grows super-fast before age three as neuroplasticity peaks, forming millions of connections daily that you can reshape easily.

Thus, it is essential to screen children early, which is critical so that possible signs of autism can be identified and therapies suggested effectively, boosting language, social skills, and independence. Based on the therapies, many children show signs of improvement by 50 percent compared to delayed diagnosis.

We need to understand that delaying of small issues can turn into major behavioural struggles. In India, pediatric doctors now recommend regular checks for toddlers,

especially in smaller towns, so that timely support can be administered to kids making them reach normal milestones instead of facing lifelong hurdles.

Value of Multidisciplinary Therapy

Despite early diagnosis, parents and families need to understand that there is no single approach to treating ASD. It is a combined effort of multidisciplinary teams such as

neurologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and educators deliver that deliver holistic care. Sensory integration therapy addresses the sensory issues while Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) builds daily skills for children and understating routine.

Speech therapy helps the child build communication skills but despite all the therapies, it is the parent’s total understanding and acceptance that will enable success of

the therapies skills. Plexus Neuro Centre exemplifies integrated, evidence-based models prioritizing child-led progress that is backed by the support of the family.

It is important to raise awareness and reduce the spread of myths. Every child should have the right to a healthy and independent childhood, thus we urge parents to trust their instincts and act swiftly. This can be achieved through routine screenings and analysis by pediatric neurologists, participating in the right therapies and encouraging kids to have live an independent life, thereby empowering their futures

A newly developed deep learning-based artificial intelligence (AI) system can read heart MRI scans as accurately as medical specialists.

The deep learning model developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania is trained on more than 300,000 MRI video clips from roughly 20,000 patients.

The system matches specialists in assessing heart function and diagnosing many heart conditions, according to a study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

“Cardiac MRI is one of the most powerful tools available to cardiologists, but interpreting these scans requires rare expertise, and many hospitals -especially community and rural centers- lack specialists who regularly read complex cardiac MRI studies,” said Rohan Shad, an integrated cardiothoracic surgery resident in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

How The Deep Learning Model Worked

In the study, the researchers described a foundational vision system for cardiac MRI that is capable of representing the breadth of human cardiovascular disease and health.

The “foundation model” learns by linking MRI videos to their corresponding radiology reports, enabling it to recognize a wide range of conditions without extensive labeled data.

In tests, it estimated ejection fraction with expert‑level accuracy and identified severe heart dysfunction far more effectively than traditional AI methods.

It also diagnosed 39 cardiac conditions — including genetic problems like hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies.

In a real‑world screen of more than 40,000 scans, the AI flagged 112 previously undiagnosed cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

According to researchers, the system could help hospitals without specialized cardiac imaging expertise detect rare but treatable diseases earlier.

Also read: Women Turning to AI for Health Detection: Helpful Tool or Risky Trend?

What Is A Cardiac MRI

A cardiac MRI is a scan of the heart in which radio waves and magnets create images. It shows the parts of the heart, such as chambers, valves, and muscles, are working ― including how the blood moves.

A cardiac MRI is typically performed to

• decode heart symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, or fainting
• diagnose congenital heart disease, heart failure, heart masses, valve disease,
• understand muscle damage, infection, protein buildup, and iron deposits
• check damage post a heart attack

AI And Heart Health

AI-powered techniques such as Machine Learning and Deep Learning are transforming how heart diseases are detected, treated, and managed globally.

Also read: Women Are More Comfortable With AI-Assisted Mammography

The technology has enabled faster analysis of large amounts of medical data—such as ECGs, heart MRIs, and patient records. It also flags patterns that may be missed by humans, and helps in early detection, treatment, and improving survival rates.

In 2024, the American Heart Association issued a scientific statement on the use of AI in improving outcomes in heart disease.

The objective aimed "to enable precision medicine and implementation science in cardiovascular research and clinical care".

However, it urged policymakers to develop principles and ethical guidance for the development and application of AI/ML-based digital health.