Bird flu health advice issued to travellers

Health advice for people travelling to countries affected by bird flu has been published by the Department of Health.

The leaflet, which will be available from GP surgeries, health centres and English air and sea ports, provides guidance on how to reduce the risk of exposure to the virus in a country affected by an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus.

It also provides details regarding the symptoms of the infection and what to do if someone thinks they have been infected.

The advice includes: not visiting bird or poultry farms and markets; avoiding close contact with live or dead poultry; not eating raw or poorly-cooked poultry or poultry products, including blood; and washing hands frequently with soap and water.

There have been no cases of the H5N1 virus in the UK, but cases have been diagnosed in birds in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and across South East Asia.

There was also a case reported in a cat in Germany last week.

Ninety-one people have died from avian flu since 2003. Those who died are believed to have contracted the disease from being in close proximity with infected poultry.

However, experts fear that the virus could mutate into a form, which passes easily between humans and could develop into a pandemic.

Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, said: "The information we are distributing today is to make sure that people travelling to countries affected by H5N1 have up-to-date health advice.

"H5N1 infections have not been reported in this country, but it is important that travellers from the UK have clear factual information to assist them."

(KMcA/GB)