The biggest outbreak of avian flu is continuing to cause issues across Scotland and the rest of the country - but now the virus is infecting mammals, like foxes and otters.
The Avian influenza, also known as bird flu, has now mutated into a virus that infects animals other than birds. Now, public health bosses have issued a warning that this mutation could even jump to humans, reports Glasgow Live.The BBC have released figures that show the virus has led to the death of 208 million birds worldwide, with at least 200 recorded cases in mammals.
And as the virus spreads further and mutates, officials will be keeping a closer eye on the surveillance and testing of both animals and humans across the UK who may have been exposed.
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The different animals tested for bird flu
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) have tested 66 mammals in the UK so far for bird flu, and cases have been identified as close to Edinburgh as Fife.
Nine otters and foxes have tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1. Seals have also been tested for the virus, as well as bears and mink.
Experts believe that the infected mammals fed on dead or sick wild birds that were initially carrying the virus. The mammals infected were hit with a mutated strain that made it easier for them to develop the flu.
However, there was no evidence to show that there was transmission of bird flu between different mammals. The APHA explained that there was "a very low likelihood of any widespread infection in GB mammals".
What risk does bird flu pose to humans?
Since the bird flu outbreak was discovered back in October 2021, there have been five confirmed cases of the H5N1 virus in humans in the UK.
There has been one death recorded worldwide - in China - and only last month, a nine-year-old in Ecuador was discovered to be infected.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been up to 870 cases of bird flu within humans, influenza H5N1, reported across 21 countries in the last two decades.
A total of 457 cases resulted in death. At the time of writing, the virus is unable to spread from human to human, with the transmission risk from person to person low.
However, due to the constant evolving nature of viruses such as avian flu, WHO is continuing to stress how important it is to detect and monitor the development of the disease.
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