Russia said on Saturday that its scientists had detected the world’s first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian bird flu to humans and alerted the World Health Organization.
In comments broadcast on television, Russian health surveillance chief Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said that scientists at the Vektor laboratory isolated the genetic material from the strain of seven workers at a farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak was reported among birds in December. .
The workers did not suffer serious health consequences, he added. They are believed to have contracted the virus in poultry.
“Information about the world’s first case of transmission of avian influenza (H5N8) to humans has already been sent to the World Health Organization,” said Popova.
There are different subtypes of avian influenza viruses.
Although the highly contagious H5N8 strain is lethal to birds, it has never been reported to have spread to humans.
Popova praised “the important scientific discovery”, saying “time will tell” if the virus could mutate further.
“The discovery of these mutations when the virus has not yet acquired the ability to transmit from human to human gives all of us, the whole world, time to prepare for possible mutations and to react in an appropriate and timely manner,” said Popova.
WHO confirmed on Saturday that it had been notified by Russia of development.
“We are discussing with national authorities to gather more information and assess the impact of this event on public health,” said a spokesman.
“If confirmed, this would be the first time that H5N8 infects people.”
The WHO emphasized that Russian workers were “asymptomatic” and no person-to-person transmission had been reported.
People can become infected with avian and swine flu viruses, such as subtypes A (H5N1) and A (H7N9) of avian influenza and subtypes of swine flu, such as A (H1N1).
According to the WHO, people are usually infected through direct contact with animals or contaminated environments, and there is no sustained transmission between humans.
H5N1 in people can cause serious illness and has a mortality rate of 60%.
‘Tip of the iceberg’
Gwenael Vourc’h, head of research at France’s National Institute of Agriculture, Food and Environment, said that influenza viruses are known to evolve “very quickly” and that there may have been cases other than those reported in Russia.
“This is probably the tip of the iceberg,” she told AFP.
François Renaud, a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), said, however, that he “was not particularly concerned” at this stage.
He added that the coronavirus pandemic has taught countries to react quickly to potential health threats. “Draconian measures will be taken to stop the outbreak immediately,” he said.
Avian flu has hit several European countries, including France, where hundreds of thousands of birds have been euthanized to prevent infection.
Russia’s Vektor Center for Virology and Biotechnology, which has detected transmission to poultry farmers, has also developed one of the country’s several coronavirus vaccines.
In the Soviet era, the laboratory, located in Koltsovo, outside the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, conducted secret research on biological weapons.
It even stores viruses ranging from Ebola to smallpox.
In televised comments, Vektor chief Rinat Maksyutov said the laboratory was ready to start developing test kits that would help detect potential cases of H5N8 in humans and to start working on a vaccine.
The Soviet Union was a scientific power and Russia sought to regain a leading role in vaccine research under President Vladimir Putin.
Russia registered the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in August, months before Western competitors and even before large-scale clinical trials.
After initial skepticism in the West, The Lancet The newspaper published results this month showing that the Russian vaccine – named after the Soviet-era satellite – is safe and effective.
© Agence France-Presse