A worker involved in the cull of 160,000 turkeys in Britain's first outbreak of bird flu is being monitored in hospital with a mild respiratory complaint, the Health Protection Agency said tonight.
British media said the person was a government veterinarian. The agency would not comment on this. It said a number of tests were being carried out, one of which was for possible contamination with the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus.
"It is a person who was involved after the outbreak so would have been issued with full protective gear and already be on a course of antivirals," an HPA spokesman said.
"The person is not seriously ill - it could be normal winter flu - and it is highly unlikely he was exposed to H5N1. Among the tests is one for H5N1. We should get the results tomorrow."
The cull of almost 160,000 turkeys on the Suffolk farm where the H5N1 strain of bird flu broke out was completed late yesterday. Russia and Japan banned British poultry imports after the country's first outbreak of the H5N1 strain in farmed poultry that sparked the cull.
Workers wearing white protective suits, black gloves and masks took the livestock away in crates to be gassed after discovery of the disease on a farm run by Europe's largest turkey producer, Bernard Matthews.
Meanwhile the European Commission today ruled out imposing an export bans on British poultry because of the outbreak after saying such a move would be unjustified.
EU veterinary experts met in Brussels to assess the continuing health security measures around the Bernard Matthews property in Holton, Suffolk, where the H5N1 virus was discovered last week.
An EC spokesman today urged countries which have already responded with poultry trade blockades against the UK - Japan, Russia, Hong Kong and South Korea - to resume business as usual as soon as possible. "Any generalised ban on exports from the UK is totally disproportionate," he said.
The whole idea of the security measures now in force is to isolate the infected area and provide a "buffer zone" to contain any spread of the disease, the EC spokesman went on.
As that had now been done, in line with pre-agreed EU-wide contingency plans for such an outbreak, only a localised trade restriction on poultry from the affected area could be justified, the spokesman added.
"The whole idea of the measures is to avoid the need for a general trade ban on poultry against the EU member state concerned. We will now be helping the UK authorities to persuade the countries that have imposed bans that their action is not justified and to get back to normal as soon as possible."
There were fears that the British outbreak came from an earlier outbreak found in geese in Hungary in January. The Hungarian H5N1 strain was the first known case within the 27-nation EU since August last year.
However, British officials told the meeting of veterinary experts that it was unlikely that Hungary was the source of the infection.
Experts are still working to try to find the source of the outbreak, identified on Saturday as the H5N1 strain, which has killed 164 people since January 2003, mainly in Asia and the Middle East.
Mr David Miliband, British Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, said the outbreak posed only a "negligible" risk to the public, and Prime Minister Tony Blair said there was impediment to eating poultry products.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan backed the claims. But Ireland imposed a ban on importing birds from Britain for shows and gathering for fear Irish flocks would be contaminated.
The Cabinet is due to discuss the threat posed by avian flu at its weekly meeting today and Ms Coughlan is likely to face questions in the Dáil later about Ireland's readiness to deal with any outbreak.