The UK has recorded the first case of human bird flu

The H5N1 strain of bird flu is one of the most dangerous, but also the most common, human infections (Credit: Arquivo / Agência Brasil)

Amid a wave of bird flu in Asia and Europe, the first case of H5N1 strain has been reported in the UK. The infection occurred in the southwestern part of the country, where the disease is highly contagious in animals.

According to the UK Health Safety Agency, “patient zero” was infected with the virus due to close and regular contact with a large number of infected birds. This is the first human case of H5N1 in the UK.

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According to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), bird flu has been reported in 15 countries in the last three months of 2021. Italy is the country where 285 eruptions and nearly 4 million birds were killed.

The problem is that H5N1 is one of the few strains of bird flu that affects humans and is absolutely dangerous: it has killed half of the 850 people already infected with the disease since the 1990s.

According to British officials, the English patient is in good health and has been isolated. All of its birds were euthanized, and there was no evidence that the virus had infected others.

The current outbreak is the largest bird flu crisis on record in the UK – with the Daily Mail reporting that authorities are considering killing more than half a million birds to control the virus.