U.K.'s first human case of H5N1 avian flu detected in man with pet ducks



EyeEm and Wagner Lessa are the authors of the image.

The first U.K. resident to catch the H5N1 strain of bird flu was a man named Alan who kept his ducks at his home in England.

A flock of more than 100 ducks lived outside on a property in Buckfastleigh, and after feeding them for a while, Gosling brought 20 of them into his home to be pets. The ducks in the outdoor flock fell ill in December of 2021. The DEFRA and APHA ran tests on the birds and found positive cases of H5N1 avian flu. The whole flock, including the 20 house ducks, were culled after Christmas.
After being tested for several strains of avian flu, he was positive for H5N1. He told The Mid-Devon Advertiser that he is very lonely and that he is currently in a home that he is not allowed to leave.
There are deadly diseases that hopped across species.
The family has been through a lot in the past couple of weeks, according to the daughter-in-law. He saw his ducks killed and they were his closest friends.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu can cause severe disease and death if it jumps to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health agencies watch for new human cases of H5N1 because the pathogen could have "pandemic potential." The strain has never been detected in the community.

The person who had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian flu in southwest England had not been released by the UK Health Security Agency. Bird-to-human transmission of avian flu is very rare and has only occurred a small number of times in the U.K.

"This is going to be big news, but the key thing is that human infections with H5N1 are really rare and they almost always occur as a result of direct, long-term contact with poultry," said Mike Tildesley, a professor in infectious disease modelling at the University There has never been any evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of H5N1, so I wouldn't consider this to be a significant public health risk.
There is no evidence of the infection spreading to anyone else, according to the UKHSA. The individual is currently isolated.
You can read more about the case in The Guardian.
Live Science published the original article.