In May last year, more than 50,000 chickens were culled after an outbreak of the H7 bird flu in farms in the neighbouring county of Norfolk.

One member of staff at the farm contracted the disease and was treated for an eye infection.

What is bird flu?
Also known as avian influenza, bird flu is an infectious disease of birds caused by a variant of the standard influenza A virus.
It was first noted by veterinary scientists in the early-1900s.Since mid-December 2003, a growing number of south east Asian countries have reported outbreaks of bird flu in chickens and ducks.
The virus can spread rapidly through flocks of domestic poultry. It is the H5N1 strain which is infecting humans and causing high death rates.

How does it affect humans?
Humans can catch bird flu directly through close contact with live infected birds, and those who work with infected chickens are most at risk.
If the virus mutates into a form that can be passed between humans, it could result in the infection spreading rapidly across the globe.

What are the symptoms?

In humans, symptoms include fever, sore throats and coughing.
People can also develop conjunctivitis.
It takes three to five days to develop symptoms.
The H5N1 strain is the most deadly type of the bird flu virus with 50 per cent of victims dying.
Chickens may die without showing any symptoms but typically birds suddenly show swelling about the eyes and ear lobes.

How severe is the disease?

It varies. In Hong Kong in 1997 an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus affected 18 people and caused six deaths.
In the current outbreak human illness is very severe in most cases.
Forty nine countries have so far had H5N1 outbreaks among birds, and 200 million birds have died or been culled.
Which countries have been affected in the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)?
So far the disease has been found in Japan and Korea, south east Asia, north east and the north west coast of Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan and across Europe, especially in Germany.

Should we stop eating chicken?
No. There is no evidence that cooked poultry can infect people. You need to be in close proximity to live, infected birds to catch the current mutation of the virus.

What should I do if I find a dead wild bird?
The Health Protection Agency advises the public should not unnecessarily handle dead or diseased wild birds or other dead animals, which almost always pose a variety of disease risks.
The agency warns almost all human cases of infection with HPAI H5N1 confirmed to date have been associated with close contact with infected poultry.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has a hotline for people to contact on 08459 335577.