Advice about bird flu - avian influenza - what it is and whether it is a risk to human health. You can also find advice on food safety and bird flu in this section.
What is Bird Flu?
Avian influenza is a disease of birds, not humans. People can become infected but rarely are.
Bird flu is spread by movement of infected birds or contact with faeces, either directly or through contaminated objects. Some strains spread easily and quickly between birds in poultry populations.
For control measures and the latest situation, go to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website. It is vital that all bird keepers in the UK continue to practice the highest levels of biosecurity and be vigilant for any signs of disease.
If you see an unusual number of dead wild birds, call DEFRA on 0845 933 5577 - see our Dead Animals page for more details.
Risks to Human Health
A severe form of avian influenza – called H5N1 – has affected poultry flocks and other birds in several countries since 2003.
As of 30 June 2008, 385 people have also caught the infection, as a result of close and direct contact with infected birds. Two hundred and forty-three of these have subsequently died.
There is no firm evidence that H5N1 has acquired the ability to pass easily from person to person. However, concerns remain that the virus might develop this ability, or that it might mix with human flu viruses to create a new virus.
It is this ability of avian influenza, to change and to mix, that has given rise to the fear of a new human flu pandemic.
