The UK's bird flu 'patient zero' has tested negative for the first time since catching the deadly strain from his live-in pet ducks.
Alan Gosling, 79, was pictured giving the thumbs up from his home in Devon on Sunday, where he has been quarantined for nearly three weeks.
The grandfather revealed he received a phone call on Friday informing him that his latest test had come back negative for H5N1.
He said he is in 'perfect' health and is waiting for confirmation that he can have family over to visit or leave his home.
Mr Gosling said: 'It will be nice to have somebody to come in and here and talk to. I haven't got any birds to talk to now, the ducks have gone.
'They were my family they were, I had a few in here and they were very close.'
All 160 of Mr Gosling's ducks - including 20 that lived inside his home - were culled after he tested positive on December 22.
The retired train driver said he planned to adopt more ducks in the future and has not been put off by the ordeal.
Mr Gosling is the first ever human case of H5N1 — which is fatal for up to half of the people it infects — recorded in the UK and Europe.
Despite killing millions of poultry worldwide, animal to human transmission of H5N1 is extremely rare. There have been fewer than 1,000 cases globally since the virus emerged in the late 1990s.
Alan Gosling, 79, was pictured giving the thumbs up from his home in Devon on Sunday after testing negative for the H5N1 strain
He said he is in 'perfect' health and is waiting for confirmation that he can have family over to visit or leave his home
Speaking from his waterside home on Sunday, Mr Gosling said he 'roared with laughter' after being told he was negative.
He added: I thought, "are you joking?". It doesn't really make a great deal of difference because I don't go outside at the moment because of the other pandemic.
'I'm fine, I've got no aches and pains or anything. They keep ringing me and asking me how I feel and I say I feel perfect.'
But he has been left 'heartbroken' by the deaths of his beloved birds.
'I'd like to have my ducks back, I miss them like hell. They broke my heart, they have been with me for such a long time.
'All of
