A human case of bird flu has been found in England, health officials have said.
The virus was detected in a person in the West Midlands region who is said to have been infected while on a farm, having had “close and prolonged contact with a large number of infected birds”.
The birds had the DI.2 genotype – which is known to be circulating in birds in the UK this season, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Monday. It is different to strains circulating among mammals and birds in the US.
Anyone the individual has been in contact with has been contacted by officials and those at highest risk of exposure have been offered antiviral treatment, the agency said in a statement.
The person concerned is “currently well” and being treated at a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) unit.
The risk to the wider public is “very low”, the agency said, adding that it’s rare for people to catch the H5N1 virus, also called avian influenza, from birds.
No cases of human-to-human transmission have been detected despite what the UKHSA called “extensive recent surveillance of influenza A(H5N1)” amid multiple bird flu outbreaks in birds across the country.
The case was detected as part of routine surveillance for bird flu by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), which discovered an outbreak in a flock of birds.
Professor Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at UKHSA, said the risk of avian flu to the general public is still “very low”, and there is currently “no evidence of onwards transmission” from the case.
She said the public should not “touch sick or dead birds” and follow Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) advice about reporting any suspected cases.
UK Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said it’s very rare for a human to catch the disease, even though it is “highly contagious” in birds.
All the infected birds are being “humanely culled” and the premises “cleaned and disinfected”.
She warned of a “growing number of avian flu cases in birds on both commercial farms and in backyard flocks across the country”.
Andrew Gwynne, Minister for Public Health and Prevention, said his department is “monitoring this situation closely”, but the risk of wider or onward transmission is “very low”.
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The government has stocked up on H5 vaccine, which protects against bird flu, he said.
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Human-to-human transmission of the disease has only been seen very rarely and never in Europe or the UK.
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There have been seven human cases in the UK since 2021; this is the second in which an individual has shown symptoms.
On Saturday, the UK Chief Veterinary Officer ordered a new Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) covering the whole of England and Scotland following the rise in cases.
Last month, scientists at the University of Glasgow said bird flu can infect horses without causing any symptoms, raising fears that the virus could be spreading undetected.
