Seven people on a poultry farm in southern Russia have been infected with bird flu H5N8, Russian health officials say. This is the first time the highly pathogenic virus has been found in humans. There is no evidence that human-to-human transmission is possible.
‘Today I would like to inform you about an important scientific discovery made by scientists at the Vector Science Center’Anna Popova, the head of Russia’s consumer health regulator, said Saturday. ‘The first cases of human infection with [aviaire influenza A (H5N8)] have been confirmed in the laboratory. ‘
The virus was found in seven employees at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where outbreaks of H5N8 were reported in the bird population in December 2020. Popova described the symptoms of the seven employees as “mild,” according to Interfax news agency.
‘The H5N8 virus can be transmitted from birds to humans’, Popova said. At present, this variant of the avian flu virus is not transmitted from person to person. “Only time will tell when future mutations will enable the virus H5N8 to pass from person to person.” Popova indicated that this discovery will help prepare science for the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the H5N8 virus. Detailed information on the seven cases has been submitted to the World Health Organization.
H5N8 has been present in birds since 1983, and outbreaks of H5N8 have occurred regularly since 2014, when it was found in breeding ducks in South Korea. Numerous outbreaks have been reported in the past 6 months, including in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, China, Japan and South Korea.
‘The H5N8-type avian flu virus is considered pathogenic and currently manifests itself in a variety of ways, from asymptomatic and undetectable to extremely deadly in some bird populations’ the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said in an update on recent outbreaks.
Human cases of H5 viruses are rare, but are mostly found in people who have had contact with sick or dead birds.
According to the WHO, a total of 239 cases of H5N1 bird flu in humans have been reported in China and Southeast Asia since 2003, killing 134 people. More recently, in January, two people in China became infected with bird flu H5N6, killing a three-year-old girl.
‘Becoming aware of the possibility of H5N8 contamination in humans is essential to be able to take preventive action’, the WHO said in a public health review for H5 viruses. “We have to stay alert to be able to detect all human cases and early changes in the transmissibility and infectivity of the viruses.”
UPDATE: Russia reports first human cases of H5N8 bird flu https://t.co/yeNZe6tuTJ
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Not NOW, Bird Flu! We’re kinda preoccupied……????https://t.co/cgDPBgKMcu— Lee Gee (@LSG333) February 20, 2021
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