Two poultry workers in England have tested positive for bird flu, the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) has announced.
Bird flu detected in humans can either be a “true infection” or can occur “after the nose and throat are contaminated when breathing in materials on the affected farm”, said Sky News.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It is “unclear” in one of the two latest cases whether he was contaminated after inhalation or whether he was truly infected, added the outlet.
There are no signs of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general population remains very low, the UKHSA said. Nevertheless, added a spokesperson, “we know that viruses evolve all the time and we remain vigilant for any evidence of changing risk to the population”.
Since December 2021, there have been just 13 human cases reported around the world. All of the cases occurred when the individuals came into close contact with infected poultry.
Although there is “no suggestion” H5N1 can pass between humans, if the virus did evolve to transmit between people, asymptomatic cases “would be a serious concern”, said the i news site.
The spread of bird flu to mammals, including foxes and otters in Britain, has stoked fears that the virus could one day pass between humans in a pandemic like Covid-19.
Professor James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC that the finding should lead to “greater attention” on asymptomatic infection and sampling.
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advicethe explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Keith McNally' 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meatThe Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
-
Bird flu: The viral threat pushing up egg pricesFeature
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cowsSpeed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
-
California declares bird flu emergencySpeed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Mold, bugs at listeria-linked Boar's Head meat plantSpeed Read Food safety inspectors reported many violations at a Virginia plant that has been linked to a nationwide deli meat recall
-
The bird flu fight is falteringTalking Points Are pandemic lessons going unheeded?
-
Bird flu worries mount as virus found in milk, cowsSpeed Read The FDA found traces of the virus in pasteurized grocery store milk
