Bird flu: two poultry farmers detected in England 

The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has made it known that two poultry workers have tested positive for bird flu in England.

The agency said that both cases were selected through a screening programme for victims who have come in contact with the virus in any means.  

The two affected people were infected after coming into contact with infected birds on the same farm in England, The Guardian UK said.

It was, however, reported that neither individual suffered any symptoms as of yet. 

Health officials said there were no signs of person-to-person transmission of the virus, which has spread dramatically in wild bird populations and affected other species.

But, they added that contact tracing was being carried out for one of the workers as a precaution.

“Current evidence suggests that the avian influenza viruses we’re seeing circulating in birds around the world do not spread easily to people,” said Prof Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at UKHSA.

 “However, we already know that the virus can spread to people following close contact with infected birds and this is why, through screening programmes like this one, we are monitoring people who have been exposed, to learn more about this risk.”

Based on the timing of the poultry workers’ exposure and their test results, the UKHSA said it believed one of the cases was not infected with avian flu, but had inhaled virus-containing material into their nose and throat that triggered a positive result on a nasal swab.

In the second case, health officials have not ruled out an infection with the virus, though, as with the first case, the person may have inhaled a virus that did not establish itself as an infection. 

The UKHSA said that person was the focus of an ongoing investigation and that precautionary contact tracing was undertaken. Both cases relate to the H5N1 strain of avian flu.

The two cases are the latest since January 2022 when a person living in the south-west of England was found to be infected with avian influenza.