Russia reports first case of H5N8 bird flu in humans

THD NewsDesk, New Delhi: Seven workers in the southern part of Russia had been infected with the H5N8 bird flu strain as reported by the officials. Being passed from poultry to humans, the flu inflected around 7 people working at the poultry plant in December 2020.

However, Anna Popova, Head of Russia’s consumer health said “All seven people are feeling well now” and added “adequate measures had been taken to avert the spread of the flu”. Upon reporting the matter to World Health Organization (WHO), Ms. Popova said that no such sign of risk of transmissibility between humans is studied about the flu.

She further stated that “Vektor Laboratory’s ‘the important scientific discovery’ had successfully isolated the strain’s genetic material from the inflected workers”. The Lab studied the mutation processes of the virus, where it discoverd that the strain had not acquired the ability to transmit from human to human yet.

Miss Popova praised the excellent work of the laboratory and was positive about the fact that Russia, as well as the entire world, has adequate time to prepare for possible mutations and react adequately and timely. “Russian Scientists will now start working upon developing the test systems for the virus. Russia has reported occasional cases of other strains of bird flu with death as outcome too, however this H5N8 bird strain is a new one, originating from poultry plan to humans”, she added.

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