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Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian federal agency responsible for consumer protection and human well-being, issued an alert to the World Health Organization (WHO) after detecting the presence of the AH5N8 virus, responsible for bird flu, in humans. The news comes when, in addition to Russia, China and other countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa register outbreaks of the disease in birds.
According to the Russian authorities, the virus was detected in seven people who work in a poultry plant, located in the south of the country, where an epidemic of bird flu affected the animals in December 2020.
“The laboratory has confirmed the first case of infection of a person with the group A virus, avian influenza AH5N8 (…) the discovery was detected several days ago, but we did not want to give the information until we were absolutely sure of our results”, said Anna Popova, director of the Rospotrebnadzor agency.
The representative of the agency also reported that the affected people feel well “and do not present complications (…) in addition, the necessary measures were taken to control the situation quickly,” he said.
Popova: “The discovery gives the world time to prepare”
Since the end of 2020, the AH5N8 variant of bird flu has created health problems in animals in several European countries, including France, where millions of animals have been euthanized to stop the spread of the disease.
According to the WHO, the transmission of avian influenza to humans is rare and requires “direct or close contact with infected birds or their environment.” However, this virus “must be watched” because it has the potential to mutate.
“The circulation of certain variants of avian influenza in poultry around the world is of public health concern because they can cause serious illness in humans, who have little or no immunity to the virus,” the WHO noted.
According to the world health authority, humans may already be infected with avian influenza viruses of the H5N1, H7N9, and H9N2 subtypes.
For this reason, the Russian authorities determined that early warning offers the world the possibility to prepare through the creation of detection elements and the development of a vaccine.
“The development of a vaccine is essential in case the virus becomes more pathogenic and more dangerous for humans, gaining the ability to transmit from person to person (…) only then would we be fully armed and prepared,” added Popova.
The Vektor laboratory, belonging to the Russian state, was the one that detected the presence of the virus in humans. For this reason, he emphasized the need to begin developing a test system “that allows the rapid detection of cases of the disease in humans.”
What is known about avian flu
According to the website of the Mayo Clinic in the United States, avian influenza is caused by a type of influenza virus, which almost never infects humans. There are at least 12 types of this disease and only two strains have recently infected humans, AH5N1 and AH7N9.
For the WHO, transmission of the virus to humans “occurs rarely” and usually affects people who have been exposed to sick or dead birds.
This pathology presents conditions similar to those of conventional influenza. Signs and symptoms of avian influenza can appear within two to seven days and patients show cough, fever, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, shortness of breath, among others.
According to the Russian-born news agency Ria Novosti, the Siberian Vector Institute reported that it will begin development of human tests and a vaccine against the AH5N8 virus.
With AFP and Reuters
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source https://pledgetimes.com/russia-alerted-who-to-the-spread-of-avian-influenza-ah5n8-in-humans/
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