A poultry worker has contracted the H7 strain of bird flu in the form of conjunctivitis, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed tonight.

The affected person is thought to have contracted the infection via close contact with poultry on a Norfolk farm.

An HPA spokeswoman said the worker’s symptoms were limited to an eye infection and would not release any further details about the age or gender of the sufferer.

Experts say that tests have shown that the virus detected at the farm is the milder H7 strain of avian flu - not the deadly H5N1 strain that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people in Asia.

Vets were tonight continuing to slaughter 35,000 chickens at the farm in Hockering, Norfolk, following the outbreak detected earlier this week.

Hundreds of people living near the farm were tonight being given letters of "reassurance" by local councils.

Officials at Norfolk County Council and Breckland District Council said letters were being delivered to 1,800 homes in villages around the farm.

"We want to reassure residents that all agencies are working together to minimise the impact of the outbreak of the form of avian flu on the local community," said a spokesman for Norfolk County Council.

"A joint letter from the two Chief Executives of the councils is being delivered to about 1,800 homes tonight and over the weekend in North and East Tuddenham, Hockering and Mattishall to reassure local people."

Workers at Witford Lodge Farm in Hockering, Norfolk, were earlier offered antiviral drugs and were monitored by doctors.

The discovery of dead chickens due to the H7 strain of avian flu led to some 35,000 birds being culled. Defra earlier said the H7 strain was not the same as the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

The infected poultry worker has the low pathogenic H7N3 strain of avian flu which does not transmit easily from person to person, the HPA added.

The risk posed to the general public is "extremely limited". And the poultry worker does not need hospital treatment, the HPA said.

He or she was given an antiviral drug as a precautionary measure today as soon as the agency was told about the outbreak on the Norfolk poultry farm.

The poultry worker, and others, is also being offered a seasonal influenza vaccine which is given to prevent the H7 virus from mixing with any human flu viruses that may be circulating.

Nose and throat swabs and blood tests are being taken from other poultry workers by the HPA and their health is being closely monitored.

An unconfirmed number of workers at the Norfolk farm are already taking the same antiviral drug (oseltamivir) to prevent the illness.

The Norfolk County Council spokesman said the letter being delivered to local homes stressed that "the avian flu virus poses very low risk to the health of local people and plans to deal with the outbreak are working well".

He said there was "no reason" for tourists to avoid Norfolk over the Bank Holiday weekend.

"There is absolutely no reason why anyone thinking of visiting Norfolk should be put off," he said.

"The countryside is fully open for business."

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