UK urged to act to prevent ‘serious situation’ after two Britons catch bird flu

What is Bird Flu?

The UK has been urged to improve its rapid testing capacity in order to “prevent a repeat of the COVID-19 pandemic”. This is the warning of a virologist after two UK poultry workers were yesterday revealed to have tested positive for avian influenza following routine screening. The Health Security Agency has said both patients, who were exposed to sick birds at the same unidentified farm, are asymptomatic and have since tested negative for the virus. They added that there is no evidence of transmission between humans at present. However, the agency is engaging in precautionary contact tracing measures, with their chief medical advisor, Professor Susan Hopkins, saying that they “remain vigilant”.

Virologist Professor Nicole Robb of the Universities of Warwick and Oxford told Express.co.uk: “An imminent avian flu pandemic is unlikely but not impossible.

“Looking back at trends over the last century, there have been six major pandemics and outbreak frequency has accelerated significantly over the last 20 years.

“To date, there have been no sustained cases of human-to-human transmission. However, if it does happen it will be a serious situation.

“Previous cases of bird-to-human transmission are associated with high fatality rates of over 50 percent.”

Prof. Robb, who is also the co-founder of the healtech firm Pictura Bio, continued: “The good news is, unlike when COVID-19 emerged, H5N1 has been around for 20 years — so we already have tests and vaccines.

“However, none of this is available at scale. The UK’s diagnostic testing capabilities are not advanced enough to deal with an influenza spill-over event from birds to humans quickly and efficiently. New diagnostic technologies are needed as a priority.

“It took far too long to get community testing up and running with Covid, which enabled the virus to spread. COVID-19 could have had much less of an impact if we had rapid community testing from the start.

“To prevent a repeat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK must ensure it is better prepared and equipped to control viral outbreaks. More investment is needed in rapid testing.”

In particular, Prof. Robb advocates for a move away from “inefficient” centralised lab testing towards undertaking such in community settings like pharmacies, “so that faster diagnosis and containment is possible”. 

This week’s detection of bird flu in the two poultry workers is the first time since January last year that the Health Security Agency has logged a human case of the virus.

The previous instance concerned a 79-year-old English man who became infected after allowing ducks to enter his home.

Prior to that, few cases of bird-to-human transmission of avian flu have been recorded in the UK. 

Since October 2021, however, the UK has been facing its worst outbreak of avian influenza among birds, with dozens of poultry farms affected and millions of birds culled as a result The dominant strain has been H5N1.

This situation led to orders for poultry farms to keep their flocks indoors between last November and mid-April this year.

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While the risk to humans from the present bird flu outbreak appears minimal, experts fear that future outbreaks may present more grave risks.

Prof. Robb said: “As the global population grows, humans are moving into previously uninhabited areas, meaning more humans come into contact with wildlife.”

This, she explains, increases the risk of zoonotic transmission of viruses from wild animals to the human population.

Prof. Robb concluded: “Whether it’s H5N1, or a different virus, it is inevitable that new viruses will continue to emerge and threaten another pandemic.”

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