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A child plays in a snowfall during a heavy snowfall on February 13 in Moscow, Russia. Photo: VCG
In televised remarks, Russian health watchdog leader Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said scientists at the Vektor lab isolated genetic material from the strain of seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia , where an outbreak was recorded among the birds in December 2020.
The workers did not suffer any serious health consequences, she added. They are believed to have caught the virus from farm poultry.
“Information on the world’s first case of transmission of avian influenza (H5N8) to humans has already been sent to the World Health Organization,” Popova said.
There are different subtypes of avian influenza virus.
Although the highly contagious strain H5N8 is fatal to birds, it has never before been reported to have spread to humans. Popova praised “the important scientific discovery”, saying “time will tell” if the virus can still mutate.
“The discovery of these mutations when the virus has not yet acquired the capacity to be transmitted from person to person gives us all, the whole world, time to prepare for possible mutations and to react in a way. adequate and timely, ”Popova said.
WHO confirmed on Saturday that it had been briefed by Russia on the development.
“We are in discussions with national authorities to gather more information and assess the impact of this event on public health,” said a spokesperson.
“If confirmed, this would be the first time H5N8 has infected people.”
The WHO stressed that Russian workers were “asymptomatic” and that no human-to-human transmission had been reported. People can be infected with avian and swine flu viruses, such as avian influenza subtypes A (H5N1) and A (H7N9), and swine flu subtypes such as A (H1N1). According to the WHO, people are usually infected through direct contact with animals or contaminated environments, and there is no lasting transmission between humans.
H5N1 in people can cause serious illness and has a death rate of 60%.
Gwenael Vourc’h, head of research at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, said influenza viruses are known to evolve “fairly quickly” and there could be have had other cases in addition to those reported in Russia. “This is probably the tip of the iceberg,” she told AFP.
François Renaud, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research, however said he was “not particularly worried” at this stage.
He added that the coronavirus pandemic has taught countries to react quickly to potential health threats. “Drastic measures will be taken to immediately stop the epidemic,” he said.
Avian flu has raged in several European countries, including France, where hundreds of thousands of birds have been slaughtered to stop the infection.
Russia’s Vektor State Virology and Biotechnology Center, which has detected transmission to workers on poultry farms, has also developed one of the country’s many coronavirus vaccines.
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