Bird flu outbreak: Human case of the virus detected in the UK

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Alan Gosling, 79, contracted the virus having looked after wild ducks at his home.

His daughter-in-law Ellesha Gosling, 26, said he was ordered to test for the disease after a local flock of 160 ducks came up positive and were culled last week.

Alan helps to look after the Muscovy ducks, and took some in to his home in Buckfastleigh, Devon.

The retired train driver said: “I’m totally fine myself. I am just upset about what happened to the ducks. I’d been with them for more than 20 years so it’s a huge loss.

“They were my family, they were my life. People don’t realise they are intelligent.

“They used to sit on my slippers to warm them up for me.”

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Ellesha and husband Richard, 47, have been unable to see the dad of three since the outbreak.

She said: “He saw all of his ducks killed, and they were like his closest sest friends.”

Ellesha said Alan first began to notice several ducks in his flock falling ill a few days before Christmas.

The Muscovy ducks originally lived in a public area near his home.

The UK Health Security Agency said transmission to humans was very unusual and there had been fewer than five cases ever recorded in the UK.

Professor Ian Brown, head of virology at the Animal and Plant Health Agency, said: “This is the first reported human case with this particular strain of H5N1 so is an extremely rare event, even though this virus is currently affecting bird populations across Asia, Europe and Africa.There is no cause for alarm since the risk from this strain to people is very low and there is no evidence this virus is able to transmit from one person to another.”

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