Two poultry workers test positive for bird flu in
England
Health officials say there are no signs of
person-to-person transmission, and contact tracing is being done as a
precaution
Ian Sample
Science editor
@iansample
Tue 16 May
2023 19.17 BST
Two poultry
workers have tested positive for bird flu after coming into contact with
infected birds on the same farm in England, according to the UK Health Security
Agency.
The cases
were picked up through a screening programme for people who have come into
close contact with the virus, though neither individual suffered symptoms and
both have since tested negative.
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 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 know already 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 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. The UKHSA found no
evidence of onward transmission from the infected individual. The agency said
the two new cases did not change the level of risk to human health, which
remains “very low” for the general population.
“Globally
there is no evidence of spread of this strain from person to person, but we
know that viruses evolve all the time and we remain vigilant for any evidence
of changing risk to the population,” said Hopkins. “It remains critical that
people avoid touching sick or dead birds, and that they follow the Defra advice
about reporting.”
Health
protection teams at the UKHSA make daily contact with individuals who are at
high risk of exposure to avian flu to ask about any symptoms they may be
experiencing. The latest two cases were detected through the agency’s
asymptomatic surveillance programme, where poultry workers are asked to take
nose and throat swabs which are tested for the virus for 10 days after
exposure.
Some
workers are also asked to provide finger prick blood tests which the UKHSA
checks for antibodies against avian influenza, which would point to an
infection that has triggered the body’s immune defences.
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