H5N8 bird flu: Russia reports world s first case of human infection
Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months but only in poultry
Reuters | February 21, 2021 | Updated 08:04 IST
Russia has registered the first case of a strain of bird flu virus named A(H5N8) being passed to humans from birds and has reported the matter to the World Health Organization (WHO), Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Saturday.
Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months but only in poultry. Other strains - H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 - have been known here) to spread to humans. Russia reported the case of human infection to the WHO several days ago, just as we became absolutely certain of our results, Popova said on Rossiya 24 state TV. There was no sign of transmission between humans so far, she added.