Russia Registers First Case of Bird Flu in Humans

Russia has detected its first case of transmission of bird flu virus from animals to humans, according to health authorities.

Scientists from the state-run Vector Institute have isolated genetic material of the H5N8 virus from seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, according to Anna Popova, head of Russia’s healthare regulator Rospotrebnadzor.

In televised remarks, she called the early diagnosis of the virus a ”victory” for Russian scientists and the country’s surveillance system for infectious diseases.

The head of the Vector Institute, Rinat Maksyutov, emphasised that there had been no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus – only animals to humans.

According to the World Health Organization, not all bird flu viruses cause disease in humans.

However, the new bird flu virus has a high mortality rate among the animals and doesn’t cause any symptoms, Maksyutov said.

He added that the Vector Institute will start working on a test system and vaccine against this new virus.

H5N8 virus cases have been reported recently elsewhere in Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary.

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