Another bird flu alert has been issued in England after an outbreak of the virus was detected in East Yorkshire.
The latest incident, which occurred in Nafferton, East Riding of Yorkshire, is the 16th reported in Britain this year.
Government officials have imposed a 3-kilometer protection zone and a 10-kilometer surveillance zone around the area that restrict the movement of birds such as chickens, as well as poultry products such as meat and eggs in the area.
All birds at the new outbreak facilities will be euthanized, officials added.
It comes as experts warned that the virus, which spreads through the droppings and saliva of domestic and wild birds, as well as contaminated food and water, could jump to humans, causing a new pandemic.
However, the current risk is considered low and cases of infection from birds to humans are rare.
But experts are concerned that the current strain of bird flu will spread around the world and that multiple cases will reach humans.
This includes 66 people diagnosed with the virus in the U.S. in cases believed to be linked to contact with infected poultry or drinking unpasteurized milk from sick livestock.
Another bird flu alert has been issued in England after an outbreak of the virus was detected in East Yorkshire. stock image
This map, from the Government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency, shows areas with bird flu restrictions in place.
The blue rings on the map represent the 3 km protection zones and the yellow rings the 10 km surveillance zones. The burgundy shaded area represents an “avian influenza protection zone” where bird owners are asked to take steps to protect their flocks from wild birds that may carry the virus, such as housing them indoors if possible. .
Alan Gosling (pictured), a retired engineer from Devon, contracted bird flu after his ducks, some of which lived inside his house, became infected in 2022.
Meanwhile, a Mexican man died after contracting the virus last year.
It is unknown how the 59-year-old man, who suffered health complications and died in April, came into contact with the pathogen.
He reportedly developed fever, difficulty breathing, diarrhea and nausea.
So far there are no examples of human-to-human transmission, although some studies suggest that the virus is just one mutation away from having this ability.
The latest outbreak in Yorkshire comes after a series of other cases in England last month.
Poultry has been identified from three premises in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, the last of which was found on December 28.
Other outbreaks have been reported near Norfolk, the city of Kingston upon Hull and Suffolk, some of them linked to turkeys that were destined for Christmas tables.
The wave of outbreaks occurs a few months after a panel UK Government Experts said the current infections in American livestock had increased the risk of human-to-human transmission by up to 35 percent, compared to just five percent previously.
They also warned that Britain will need to step up surveillance efforts from September, when birds from the United States cross the Atlantic as part of their annual migrations, potentially bringing the virus with them.
Independent experts have told MailOnline that the threat of a new pandemic caused by bird flu is low but “cannot be excluded” as a possibility.
Weeks earlier, the United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency announced that it had purchased 5 million doses of an H5 human flu vaccine in preparation for a possible bird flu pandemic, also called bird flu.
While no new human cases of H5N1 have been detected in the UK as part of the current wave of outbreaks, Britain has seen people infected before.
Alan Gosling, a retired engineer from Devon who kept ducks at home, contracted the virus in early 2022 after his pets became infected.
He later tested negative while in quarantine for nearly three weeks.