The Health Security Agency in the United Kingdom reports that there have been some positive tests for Bird Flu this year. So far, there have been four cases. There were two cases in May and only one in all of 2021.
Because the two additional patients were in separate locations and unrelated to the others, officials say there is still a small risk to the public.
There is no evidence that it has spread from person to person.
Because no one has reported feeling sick and there is no evidence to suggest they were infected, the detections do not constitute “cases” of bird flu in humans, according to the leaders of the UKHSA.
It’s probable that they merely tested positive from having infected bird excrement in their nasal cavity when they were swabbed for testing, which is now required of all workers in the poultry sector.
All four of this year’s positive test takers worked with poultry, and Alan Gosling contracted the disease in 2021 from ducks who lived on his property.
In an interview with the BBC, Dr. Meera Chand of the United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Executive said that the detection might be the result of contaminates in the nose or throat from breathing material floating in the environment.
Chand said it’s also possible they’re the consequence of an infection, which is tricky to diagnose in healthy people. New evidence suggests that the bird flu viruses we have been witnessing are not easily transmitted to humans.
Chand said they are monitoring folks who have been exposed to these threats so that they can learn more about them.
No more instances were found during the contact tracing that surrounded the new detections, and no one in that group fell ill.
The highly infectious avian influenza virus is devastating bird populations in Britain and worldwide, killing off infected birds at an alarming rate.
The RSPB has now warned that a lethal epidemic has impacted the seabirds protected on Anglesey, which is in North Wales.
According to the UK Health and Safety Executive, the H5N1 virus poses a Level 3 threat to human health, designated as limited mammal transmission (excluding humans.)
