A UK poultry worker was infected with bird flu virus through close contact with birds on Saturday at a farm in Norfolk, where an outbreak of the disease has occurred earlier this week.

The worker is suffering from conjunctivitis after contracting the H7N3 strain of bird flu but has not required hospital treatment.

The virus has been identified as the H7N3 strain, not H5N1. H5N1 strain of Bird flu has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa, causing more than 100 human deaths and killing millions of birds.

A statement from the Health Protection Authority (HPA) of the country has reassured the public that this strain of the disease cannot be passed from person to person.

Bird flu was detected at the Norfolk farm earlier this week. A total of 35,000 chickens are currently in the process of being culled. A one km exclusion zone remains in place around the farm.