The United Kingdom has detected bird flu in a sheep for the first time, the government announced Monday.
The case, found in a sheep in Yorkshire after repeated milk tests, was identified “following routine surveillance” of livestock on a premises where avian influenza had been confirmed in captive birds, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Animal and Plant Health Agency said.
No further infection with the virus was detected in the remaining flock and there is no evidence to suggest an increased risk to the nation’s livestock population, they added. But U.K. Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss urged livestock keepers to “remain vigilant.”
The government said it introduced livestock surveillance of infected premises because of the outbreak of avian influenza in dairy cows in the United States.
