BREAKING: UK Detects First Case Of Bird Flu In A Sheep 

BREAKING: UK Detects First Case Of Bird Flu In A Sheep 

The British government has identified a case of bird flu in a sheep in northern England—the first known instance of its kind globally.

This discovery adds to the growing number of mammalian species affected by the disease, raising concerns about a potential pandemic.

In an official statement, the government noted that the H5N1 bird flu virus has been responsible for fatalities among various mammals worldwide, including bears, cats, dairy cows, dogs, dolphins, seals, and tigers.

While human cases have been reported, their severity has varied from asymptomatic infections to, in rare cases, fatalities. However, there is no confirmed evidence of human-to-human transmission.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the infected sheep—a ewe—showed signs of mastitis, an inflammation of breast tissue, but exhibited no other clinical symptoms.

“The case was identified following routine surveillance of farmed livestock on a premises in Yorkshire where highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) had been confirmed in other captive birds,” the statement said.

Additionally, a professor of molecular and cellular virology, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Ed Hutchinson, also said that: “the fact that the sheep’s milk also tested positive suggested parallels with the ongoing H5N1 outbreak among dairy cows in the United States.

“At the moment there was no evidence of ongoing transmission from the sheep and the case appeared to have been contained.” 

In response to recent outbreaks in U.S. dairy cows, Britain’s rural affairs ministry has implemented livestock surveillance measures on farms where bird flu has been detected in captive birds.