A new pandemic? In Russia, bird flu was first transmitted to humans

20 февраля 2021, 14:14

Seven employees of a poultry farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak of bird flu occurred in December last year, was confirmed for the first time in the world. This was reported by the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova. She added that the new type of bird flu is not yet transmitted from person to person.

At the same time, this is the first time in the world when a person fell ill with avian influenza A (H5N8), Popova added. Her words are quoted by TASS. After confirming the disease in humans, Russia sent a notification to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Now all the workers of the poultry farm who have been confirmed to have a new disease are doing well. Their disease was mild, the immune system quickly reacted to the new disease.

Overcoming the interspecies barrier is an alarming sign for an epidemiologist. Rospotrebnadzor does not yet know how quickly this virus can mutate and begin to be transmitted from person to person. The first detection of this disease in humans makes scientists pay attention to this virus and respond to it in a timely manner so that the next mutation does not turn into a new pandemic, Rospotrebnadzor added.

A week ago, the Russian doctor and TV presenter Alexander Myasnikov said that mankind could face a new pandemic, which could come either from bird flu or from swine flu, if these viruses mutate twice: first they will begin to be transmitted from animal to person, and then from person to person... The doctor proposed to immediately start developing a vaccine against these potentially dangerous viruses, since it is not known how soon these viruses will be able to improve.