Russia has just warned the WHO of the world’s first case of H5N8 bird flu in humans

Russia said on Saturday that its scientists had discovered the first case in the world of the transmission of the H5N8 strain of bird flu from birds to humans and the World Health Organization had pointed it out.

In pop-up comments, the head of Russian health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said scientists at the Vector Laboratory had isolated the tribe’s genetic material from seven workers on a poultry farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak in December was recorded among the birds.

The workers had no serious health consequences, she added. They presumably caught the poultry virus on the farm.

“Information on the world’s first case of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu (H5N8) has already been sent to the World Health Organization,” Popova said.

There are different subtypes of bird flu viruses.

Although the highly contagious strain H5N8 is lethal to birds, it has never been spread to humans before.

Popova praised “the important scientific discovery” and said “time will tell” if the virus could mutate further.

“The discovery of these mutations when the virus does not yet have the ability to transmit from human to human gives us all, the whole world, time to prepare for possible mutations and respond in an adequate and timely manner, “Popova said.

The WHO confirmed on Saturday that Russia had been notified of the development.

“We are in talks with national authorities to gather more information and assess the health impact on this event,” a spokesman said.

“If confirmed, it’s the first time H5N8 has infected people.”

WHO stressed that the Russian workers are “asymptomatic” and that no further human-to-human transmission has been reported.

People can become infected with bird and swine flu viruses, such as subtypes A (H5N1) and A (H7N9) and subtypes of swine flu such as A (H1N1).

According to the WHO, humans are usually infected through direct contact with animals or infected environments, and there is no sustained transmission among humans.

H5N1 in humans can cause serious illness and has a mortality rate of 60 percent.

‘Tip of the iceberg’

Gwenael Vourc’h, head of research at the French Institute of Agriculture, Food and Environment in France, said it was known that flu viruses were “developing rapidly” and that there may have been other cases besides Russia.

“This is probably the tip of the iceberg,” she told AFP.

However, Francois Renaud, a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), said he was “not particularly concerned” at this stage.

He added that the coronavirus pandemic has taught countries to respond quickly to possible health threats. “Draconian measures will be taken to stop the outbreak immediately,” he said.

Bird flu has raged in several European countries, including France, where hundreds of thousands of birds have been eliminated to stop the infection.

The Russian Vector Virology and Biotechnology Center, which tracked the transmission to poultry farm workers, has also developed one of the country’s multiple coronavirus vaccinations.

During the Soviet era, the laboratory in Koltsovo outside the Siberian city of Novosibirsk conducted secret research on biological weapons.

It still contains viruses ranging from Ebola to smallpox.

In television comments, Rinat Maksyutov, head of Vector, said the lab is ready to start developing test kits that will help detect possible cases of H5N8 in humans and start working on a vaccine.

The Soviet Union was a scientific powerhouse and Russia sought to regain a leading role in vaccinating research under President Vladimir Putin.

Russia registered coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in August, months ahead of Western rivals and even ahead of large-scale clinical trials.

After initial skepticism in the West, The Lancet journal published results this month show that the Russian vaccine – named after the Soviet-era satellite – is safe and effective.

© Agence France-Press

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