Russia’s health watchdog said its scientists have isolated the genetic material from the strain from seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak among birds was recorded in December.
Russia said on Saturday that its scientists had detected the first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of bird flu to humans and had alerted the World Health Organization.
In televised remarks, the head of Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said scientists from the Vektor lab had isolated the genetic material from the strain from seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where it was recorded. an outbreak among birds in December.
The workers suffered no serious health consequences, he added.
“Information on the world’s first case of avian influenza (H5N8) transmission to humans has already been sent to the World Health Organization,” Popova said.
There are different subtypes of avian influenza viruses.
While the highly contagious strain H5N8 is lethal to birds, it has never been reported to have spread to humans before.
Popova praised “the important scientific discovery” and said “time will tell” if the virus can continue to mutate.
“The discovery of these mutations when the virus has not yet acquired the ability to transmit from human to human gives everyone, the entire world, time to prepare for potential mutations and react in an appropriate and timely manner,” Popova said.
People can be infected with avian and swine influenza viruses, such as avian influenza subtypes A (H5N1) and A (H7N9) and swine flu subtypes such as A (H1N1).
According to the WHO, people generally become infected through direct contact with animals or contaminated environments, and there is no sustained human-to-human transmission.
H5N1 in people can cause serious illness and has a mortality rate of 60 percent.
Top Secret Laboratory
Located in Koltsovo on the outskirts of the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, the Vektor State Center for Virology and Biotechnology has developed one of several coronavirus vaccines.
In the Soviet era, the top-secret lab conducted top-secret research on biological weapons and still stocks viruses ranging from Ebola to smallpox.
In televised remarks, Vektor director Rinat Maksyutov said the lab was ready to begin developing test kits that would help detect potential cases of H5N8 in humans and begin work on a vaccine.
The Soviet Union was a scientific powerhouse and Russia has sought to regain a leadership role in vaccine research under President Vladimir Putin.
Russia registered the coronavirus Sputnik V vaccine in August, months ahead of Western competitors and even before large-scale clinical trials.
After initial skepticism in the West, the Lancet The magazine published results this month showing that the Russian vaccine, named after the Soviet-era satellite, is safe and effective.
Bird flu has swept through several European countries, including France, where hundreds of thousands of birds have been slaughtered to stop the infection.
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