The first person in the UK to catch a new strain of bird flu has been named as 79-year-old Alan Gosling, a retired engineer who lived with about 20 ducks inside his home in Devon. Subsequent tests by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) were returned positive for the H5N1 strain of avian flu. Gosling then tested positive for general flu virus and the H5N1 strain of avian flu – a first for the strain in the UK. Some strains of bird flu can pass from birds to people, but this is extremely rare, according to the UKHSA. Human-to-human transmission of bird flu is also very rare, the organisation said.

Source: The Guardian January 07, 2022 21:08 UTC