The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHHSA) has disclosed that two poultry workers have tested positive for bird flu in England.
The agency disclosed that the two cases were selected through a screening programme for victims who have come in contact with the virus.
The two affected people were infected after coming into contact with infected birds on the same farm in England.
It was, however, reported that neither individual suffered symptoms as 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.
They however added that contact tracing was being carried out for one of the workers as a precaution.
This comes as current evidence suggests that the avian influenza viruses circulating in birds around the world do not spread easily to people.
This assertion was made by Prof Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at UKHSA.
His words “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.
