Bird flu: A person in southwest England has confirmed he has bird flu after a rare transmission

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On Thursday, the British Health Security Agency announced that a person in southwest England had contracted bird flu.

The agency said the person had been in close contact with infected birds and there was no evidence of transmission.

“The person became infected from close and regular contact with a large number of infected birds, which they kept in and around their home for an extended period of time,” the UKHSA said.

“All contacts of the individual have been traced, including those who have visited the building, and there is no evidence of infection spreading to anyone else. The individual is currently doing well and is self-isolating. The risk of bird flu remains very low for the wider public.”

Some strains of bird flu can pass from birds to humans, but this is extremely rare, according to the UKHSA.

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It usually requires close contact with an infected bird, so the risks to humans are generally considered to be very low.

The organization said that transmission of bird flu between humans is extremely rare.

The case was discovered after the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) identified an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in a flock of birds.

All infected birds were culled.

As a precaution, the Occupational Health and Safety Services Authority (UKHSA) scanned the infected person and detected low levels of influenza.

Additional laboratory analysis showed that the virus was of the “H5” type found in birds.

The UK Occupational Health and Safety Services (UKHSA) said that at this point, it was not possible to confirm that this was an H5N1 infection (the strain currently circulating in birds in the UK).

But the UKHSA notified the World Health Organization (WHO) as a precaution.

She said this was the first human case of this strain in the UK, although there have been cases elsewhere globally.

UKHSA Chief Scientific Officer Professor Isabel Oliver said: “While the risk of avian influenza to the general public is very low, we know that some strains have the potential to spread to humans and that is why we have robust systems in place to detect it early and take action.

“There is currently no evidence that this strain detected in the UK can spread from person to person, but we know viruses evolve all the time and we continue to monitor the situation closely.

“We have followed all of this person’s contacts and have not identified any further spread.”

He told MPs that a bird flu prevention zone was declared across the UK at the beginning of November, which would require strict biosecurity measures and to keep all birds indoors.

The World Organization for Animal Health warned on Wednesday that the wave of bird flu in Asia and Europe carries a higher risk of spreading to humans due to a large number of variables.

The spread of highly contagious bird flu has alarmed governments and the poultry industry after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds and trade restrictions.

This time around, the situation is more difficult and more dangerous because we are seeing more variables emerging which makes it more difficult to track them down, Monique Elwett, director general of Reuters, told Reuters.

“Ultimately, the danger is that it mutates or mixes with the human influenza virus that can be transmitted between humans and then suddenly takes on a new dimension,” she added.

Fifteen countries have reported outbreaks of bird flu in poultry between October and the end of December, mostly of the H5N1 strain. The data showed that Italy was the hardest-hit in Europe, with 285 cases of infection and the culling of nearly four million birds.

Staff of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and the Danish Emergency Management Agency dispose of thousands of turkeys on a farm near the village of Rhodes in Dubai

/ Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Emma

The outbreak generally begins in the fall, when the infection is spread by wild migratory birds.

For the contacts of an infected person with the highest risk, UKHSA contacts them daily to see if they develop symptoms.

People are also given antiviral treatment after exposure to infected birds to prevent the virus from multiplying in their bodies.

Swabs are also given to people even if they do not have symptoms.

Professor Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick, said: ‘Obviously this would be big news but the main thing is that human infections with H5N1 are really rare (less than 1,000 worldwide since 2003) and almost always occur as a result. Long-term direct contact with poultry;

“It can lead to bad infection for the individual concerned but there has been no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of H5N1 so at the moment I would not consider this a significant public health risk.”

Paul Wigley, Professor of Avian Infection and Immunology at the University of Liverpool, said: “While avian influenza has the potential to pass from poultry to humans, it is very rare and, as in this case, usually due to close and long-term exposure to infected birds. .

Avian influenza such as the H5 serotype is highly adapted to birds and is therefore unlikely to be transmitted from person to person.

“The advice given by APHA and UKHSA on contact with infected birds is reasonable and should be followed. The risk of infection spreading to the general public remains low.”

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