Bird Flu - UK Update

With the news that the latest bird (or avian) flu outbreak in the UK is the deadly H5N1 strain which can be passed to humans comes a renewal of the anxieties which have been making headline news for the past two winters.

At present the disease remains quite hard to catch, and at the time of writing no humans have been so far been infected.

Infection is normally only possible through close contact with diseased live birds or their droppings, so the people most at risk are poultry workers, and over the past couple of years a number of bio-security measures have been introduced to protect them.

The much-hyped global pandemic will only become a reality if the current strain of bird flu mutates into one which can be transmitted easily between humans. This is perfectly possible... but by no means inevitable. Viruses mutate in many ways - sometimes, even into much less harmful ones.

If you're at all concerned about bird flu, or just curious to see what all the fuss is about, you might like to check out an article based on the guidance which was being given two years ago by the World Health Organization and the UK Government. So far, there's been no indication that those guidelines have changed.

P.S. Please don't let the possibility of bird flu stop you from feeding the wild and garden birds. There's no reason at present to suppose that any of them are infected - and even if they were, wild birds are highly unlikely to let you get even nearly close enough to catch it!