Geneva, Nov 4 (EFE).- The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed today that two people were infected with bird flu in September and October following an outbreak of the disease on a farm in the Spanish province of Guadalajara, representing the first cases detected in Spain.

To date, only one case of this potentially fatal disease has been detected in continental Europe (in the UK in 2021), while worldwide since 2003, 868 infections in humans have been confirmed, with 456 deaths.

Both cases were detected in workers at a farm where an outbreak of influenza in poultry was confirmed on September 20, after which control and preventive measures were taken, the WHO said in a statement.

The Spanish Ministry of Health first confirmed the presence of the H5N1 bird flu virus in a 19-year-old employee on September 27, and then in another 27-year-old worker on October 13 who participated in control and cleaning measures.

Both recovered and were negative in subsequent tests, the WHO clarified.

In its assessment of the outbreak, the organization pointed out that there was no need to take precautions on travel to or from Spain, nor did it carry out health controls at airports.

He also clarified that although there were cases detected, there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission (the disease usually spreads from birds to humans).

The organization warns that the disease can have different effects on those who are infected: some have no symptoms and others may only have an infection of the upper respiratory tract (cough, fever), but if the infection persists, it can turn into pneumonia, a problem. serious breathing or even death. Dead.