Reporter : Xia Yu / Editor : Hua Ziming / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/2/21/n12764938.htm / Direct translation
Image : Saturday (February 20), Russian health officials reported that after the first outbreak of avian influenza on a poultry farm in December last year, a new avian influenza virus had spread from poultry to humans. This is the world's first human-to-human transmission of H5N8 avian influenza. Schematic. (Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
On Saturday (February 20), Russian health officials reported that after the first outbreak of avian influenza in a poultry farm in December last year, there was is a new bird flu virus spreading from poultry to humans. This is the world's first human-to-human transmission of H5N8 avian influenza.
Bloomberg reported that Anna Popova, the head of the Russian public health department, said in a televised speech on Saturday that the relevant department has sent information about the discovery of 7 cases among workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia to the WHO.
Popova said that scientists at the Russian Vektor Institute have isolated genetic material for the H5N8 strain of avian influenza from seven workers.
She said that it (bird flu) will not spread from person to person, but only time will tell us how long the mutation of the (strain) will overcome the barriers to transmission to people in the future.
Popova said that the affected workers in the poultry farm were mildly ill and have recovered.
The WHO said in an email statement, "They (infected workers in Russia) have no symptoms and no reports of human-to-human transmission.", "If confirmed, this will be the first time H5N8 has infected people."
Rinat Maksyutov, head of the Russian Vector Research Institute, told National Television that the rapid identification of this strain means that research and development of testing methods and potential vaccines can be launched.
Russia’s Interfax News Agency reported that in November last year, the Vector Institute reported that a new H5N8 influenza virus strain was spreading among poultry and wild birds in 15 regions of Russia, but it is not dangerous to humans.
The Press Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Communist Party of China announced on February 1 this year that a wild swan H5N8 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic occurred in Beijing.
In 2012, health officials investigated an avian influenza virus that killed hundreds of wild ducks in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia and poses a potential danger to humans.
The French Ministry of Agriculture reported that as of the end of January this year, more than 2 million ducks and other poultry had been killed in Russia due to the outbreak of bird flu or as a preventive measure.
The World Health Organization reported on December 9, 2020 that since 2003, there have been 862 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus in 17 countries, with 455 deaths. The World Health Organization said in an article published in November 2016 that of the 14 human H5N6 avian influenza cases reported since 2014, 6 were fatal.
The World Health Organization says that humans can usually be infected with avian influenza through direct contact with animals or contaminated environments, but continuous human-to-human transmission will not occur. Human beings infected with H5N1 avian influenza in the past can cause serious illnesses, with a mortality rate of 60%.
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