Bird flu alert as two Brits test positive after contact with infected birds
TWO more people have tested positive for bird flu in the UK.
The UK Health Security Agency said there have now been four positive tests this year – up from two in May – plus one in 2021.
Officials say the risk to the public remains low as the two new people were at separate locations and not linked to the others.
There is still no evidence of it spreading between people in Britain.
UKHSA chiefs say the detections are not human “cases” of bird flu because people are not getting any symptoms and there is no proof they were infected.
They may just have had contaminated bird poo in their nostrils when they went for swab tests, which are now routine for poultry workers.
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All four of the people testing positive this year worked in the poultry industry while a fifth person, Alan Gosling, picked up the virus in 2021 from ducks he kept in his home.
Dr Meera Chand, from the UKHSA, said: “These detections can follow contamination of the nose and throat from breathing in material from the environment.
“Or they can be due to infection – it can be difficult to distinguish in people who have no symptoms.
“Current evidence suggests that the avian influenza viruses we’re seeing in birds do not spread easily to people.
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“We are monitoring people who have been exposed to learn more about these risks.”
No further cases were found in contact tracing around the new detections, and neither of them fell ill.
Avian flu is ripping through bird populations in Britain and around the world, and is often deadly for the creatures.
The RSPB recently warned seabirds under conservation in Anglesey, North Wales, have been hit by a killer outbreak.
UKHSA officials say the human health risk of the virus, known as H5N1, is at Level 3 out of 6, classified as “limited mammal transmission (excluding human)”.