Details have now been released of a Buckfastleigh man who has caught bird flu.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed the case of avian influenza.

Alan Gosling - who looks after wild ducks in his home is the first person in Britain to contract the disease.

A three kilometre exclusion zone is in place.

Alan's daughter-in-law Ellesha Gosling, 26, said the 79-year-old was ordered to test for the disease after a local flock of 160 local ducks came up positive and were culled last week.

Local duck expert Alan helps looks after Muscovy ducks in the town - and eventually took them in.

Ellesha and husband Richard Gosling, 47, said they have been unable to see their relative since the outbreak and Ellesha, a mum-of-one, said the family are "in shock" at the news - and are finding it hard to process.

She said: "The past couple of weeks have been hell for this family. He saw all of his ducks killed, and they were like his closest friends.

"And now he is stuck at home on his own while tests are run to find out if he has the disease too - and we still haven't had the result confirmed to us.

"He is often on the phone to us, asking what the doctors have said - but we can't answer questions we don't know the answers to."

Ellesha said Alan first began to notice several ducks of his huge flock becoming sick a few days before Christmas.

The Muscovy ducks originally lived in a public area near Alan's home.

He started to feed them, eventually becoming friendly enough over a number of years that he was able to bring them to his property to live with him.

After DEFRA and APHA got wind of his close contact, and they were culled in a bid to prevent the spread, shortly after Christmas.

Ellesha, said: ""It has devastated him."

While the outside of the property has been partially cleaned, the family say the interior of the property remains contaminated until he is confirmed to be no longer infectious.

The family are keen to see the inside of the property cleared of contamination as they fear his condition could worsen, but say this has not yet taken place despite their pleas.

They say they have been told the cleaning of the inside of the house will have to be paid for by Alan - a further blow for the retiree.

Bird to human transmission of avian flu is very rare and has only occurred a small number of times in the UK previously.

The person acquired the infection from very close, regular contact with a large number of infected birds, which they kept in and around their home over a prolonged period of time.

All contacts of the individual, including those who visited the premises, have been traced and there is no evidence of onward spread of the infection to anyone else. The individual is currently well and self-isolating.

The risk to the wider public from avian flu continues to be very low. However, people should not touch sick or dead birds.