A recent research has claimed that avian pox has been brought to UK by insects. It was in 2006 that the disease was spotted in south-east England. However, it didn't stop there and reached to other parts of the country.

Published in three papers in the journal Plos One, the study claimed that the virus has the tendency to affect birds' beaks and eyes. Though England is severely affected, it has also been found that two such cases were reported in Perthshire and Glasgow.

It was further explained that in tits, the impact is all the more serious with tumour-like growths preventing them from feeding, thereby become all the more vulnerable to predators. Though there is no threat for great tits to get completely wiped out, it has been found that it can considerably reduce survival of infected birds.

"Although recovery from infection can occur, our results show that this new strain of avian pox virus significantly reduces the survival of wild great tits and has particularly large effects on the survival of juvenile birds", said Dr. Shelly Lachish of the Edward Grey Institute at Oxford University, while asserting that people should report about such infected birds to experts at SAC Consulting at the Scottish Rural University College or RSPB Scotland.