MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has reported the first case of a strain of bird flu virus called A (H5N8) being transmitted to humans from birds and has reported it to the World Health Organization (WHO) , Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Saturday.
Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months, but so far only in poultry. Other strains (H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2) have been known here to spread to humans.
Russia reported the case of human infection to the WHO “a few days ago, in the same way that we had absolute certainty of our results,” Popova told state television Rossiya 24. She added that there was still no no sign of transmission between humans.
Seven workers at a poultry plant in southern Russia had been infected with the H5N8 strain in an outbreak at the plant in December, Popova said, adding that the people involved were fine now. “This situation did not develop further,” he said.
In an email, the European arm of the WHO said Russia had reported a case of human H5N8 infection and acknowledged that if it was confirmed the first time the strain would infect people.
“Preliminary information indicates that the reported cases were workers exposed to flocks of birds,” the email said. “They were asymptomatic and no human-to-human transmission was reported.
“We are in a discussion with national authorities to gather more information and assess the impact of this event on public health,” the email added.
Most human avian influenza infections have been linked to direct contact with live or dead infected poultry, although properly cooked food is considered safe.
Outbreaks of avian influenza often cause poultry to kill their birds to prevent the spread of the virus and prevent importing countries from imposing trade restrictions.
The vast majority of cases are spread by migratory wild birds, so producing countries usually keep their birds indoors or protected from contact with wildlife.
The Siberian Vector Institute said Saturday it would begin developing human tests and a vaccine against H5N8, the RIA news agency reported.
Reports by Polina Devitt and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Additional reports by Vladimir Soldatkin; Edited by Mark Heinrich and David Holmes