Urgent bird flu warning for holidaymakers as experts plead with Britons flocking to the coast NOT to touch sick or dead birds

Holidaymakers have been urged to avoid contact with sick or dead birds for fear they could become infected with bird flu.

The ongoing outbreak in the UK – caused by the H5N1 strain – has left up to a million birds affected by the virus, and experts fear it is about to take off in humans.

The National Trust, which owns about 800 miles of Britain’s coastline, is urging visitors to Britain’s beaches to be on the lookout for bird flu.

Rhian Sula, a general manager for the Pembrokeshire charity, said it had deployed staff to warn visitors of the risks.

Although the virus does not spread easily to humans, touching an infected bird or its droppings are known routes of transmission.

British health chiefs have long urged the public not to go near sick or dead birds.

Like other forms of the flu, people can become infected if the virus gets into their eyes, nose, or mouth, or is inhaled.

But with bird flu, it usually occurs in people who spend a lot of time with infected creatures, such as bird handlers.

Mrs. Sula told the BBC that while locals were aware of the risks, “not all visitors are.”

“No matter how much we’ve put up warning signs, they may not see them or ignore them, so we need to have those conversations about why it’s important to keep dogs on a leash and away from the birds,” she added .

A spokesman for the National Trust confirmed to MailOnline that it advises visitors ‘not to touch any sick or dead wild birds they come across and to report any sightings’ to the government website or call Defra.

James Parkin, wildlife and tourism director for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, told the broadcaster that local rangers have collected around 800 dead birds, most of them guillemots, razorbills and gannets.

Jeff Knott, director of policy and advocacy at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, told the BBC there had been an ‘unprecedented number’ of seabird deaths.

While tens of thousands of birds have washed up on Britain’s beaches, the real number could be hundreds of thousands or millions, he said.

“Obviously seabirds spend most of their time at sea – so the chances of them washing up on a beach are quite slim, so we can’t know the actual number,” he said.

“This is a real crisis that could turn into a catastrophe,” Knott added.

There are fewer than 900 human cases of H5N1 worldwide, which kills nearly 50 percent of everyone it affects.

But since the start of the outbreak in October 2021, a surge of cases has been recorded in the UK.

Alan Gosling, a retired engineer in Devon who kept ducks at home, contracted the virus in early 2022 after his ducks became infected.

He later tested negative while in quarantine for nearly three weeks.

All of Mr Gosling’s 160 ducks – including 20 that lived in his house – were culled after he tested positive

The new cases come after Alan Gosling (pictured), a retired engineer in Devon, contracted the virus after his ducks, some of which lived in his home, became infected in 2022.

A National Trust ranger clears dead birds from Staple Island, Northumberland, in July

Bird flu usually occurs in people who spend a lot of time with infected creatures, such as avian handlers. Pictured: A swan on the River Thames in Windsor, Berkshire

Two British poultry workers subsequently tested positive for avian flu in May, making them only the second and third human cases ever recorded in Britain.

In an update earlier this month, the UKHSA reported that two more poultry workers tested positive.

The first had a sore throat and muscle pain – although it is unclear whether these symptoms were caused by the virus.

The person had three close household contacts and all have remained asymptomatic.

The second unidentified case and their three household contacts also developed no symptoms.

About 50 other people working at the two affected sites were tested for bird flu and all came back negative, the UKHSA said.

No signs of human-to-human transmission have yet been identified in the UK.

The UKHSA’s current advice states that the risk to public health from the virus is very low.

However, European health chiefs this month urged pet owners to keep their cats indoors and dogs on a leash when walking.

The warning came after at least 29 cats in Poland tested positive for avian flu.

Two cats at a shelter in Seoul, South Korea, tested positive for the virus, the government confirmed this week.

The center, which has recorded 36 other cat deaths in recent weeks, is on lockdown. No human cases have been discovered, officials said.