Four agricultural workers in Washington state have tested positive for bird flu, in the first human cases of H5N1 virus to be reported in the state. The four were "working with infected poultry at a commercial egg farm in Franklin County,

Slovakia has reported an outbreak of avian influenza on a poultry farm, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday, as Europe faces a seasonal upturn in the deadly disease commonly known as bird flu.

Four new cases of bird flu were detected in farmworkers in Washington state this week. Human infections have cropping in six states as the virus spreads among farm animals.

New guidance has highlighted an increased risk from a strain of bird flu, after 20 infected pheasants were discovered in Worcestershire along with a small number of cases elsewhere in the country. The government said the risk had increased from low to medium in wild birds.

The CDC is deploying a team to Washington state to assess the health of farm workers who culled poultry suffering from bird flu after four workers are presumed to have been infected by the virus, U.S.

Bird flu has possibly infected four agricultural workers in Washington state, according to the Washington State Department of Health. In a press release Sunday, the Washington State Department of Health said the “workers tested presumptively positive for avian influenza after working with infected poultry at a commercial egg farm in Franklin County.