Birds infect Russian poultry farm workers

RUSSIA has alerted the World Health Organisation after its scientists detected the first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu to humans.

Scientists at the Vektor laboratory isolated the strain’s genetic material from seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak was recorded among the birds in December. The workers did not suffer any serious health consequences, the head of Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said.

“Information about the world’s first case of transmission of the avian flu (H5N8) to humans has already been sent to the World Health Organisation,” she said. There are different subtypes of avian influenza viruses. While the highly contagious strain H5N8 is lethal for birds, it has never before been reported to have spread to humans.

Ms Popova praised “the important scientific discovery,” saying “time will tell” if the virus can further mutate. “The discovery of these mutations when the virus has not still acquired an ability to transmit from human to human gives us all, the entire world, time to prepare for possible mutations and react in an adequate and timely fashion,” Ms Popova said.

People can get infected with avian and swine influenza viruses, such as bird flu subtypes A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) and swine flu subtypes such as A(H1N1).

Infection usually occurs through direct contact with animals or contaminated environments, and there is no sustained transmission among humans.

H5N1 in people can cause severe disease and has a 60 per cent mortality rate.