The team found that animals that had the virus inoculated directly into their lungs became severely ill, whereas animals that were infected through the nose or oesophagus did not. All animals infected with the virus still shed infectious virus particles, meaning they could infect other animals.

Poultry keepers have been reminded to keep good biosecurity to avoid an outbreak of bird flu on the island. An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) with mandatory biosecurity measures was put in place across England and Scotland on 25 January.

Bird flu vaccines have been successfully used in France

The CDC says more than 150 million birds have been infected with bird flu, causing major price hikes to eggs and the deaths of millions of birds. With the first human death linked to the disease in January,