The risk of human-to-human transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza appears to be low after it was identified for the first time worldwide in Russian farm workers, World Health Organization (WHO) stated.
Russia recorded the first case of an influenza A (H5N8) strain of avian flu virus in humans and reported the outbreak to the WHO.
The investigation prompted the deaths of 101,000 of the farm’s 900,000 egg-laying hens in December. Seven people in Russia were diagnosed with H5N8, but all were asymptomatic after a revolution on a chicken farm in the southern (regional) oblast of Astrakhan.
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“All of these closely related cases were clinically examined, and no one showed signs of clinical illness,” he said. “Based on currently available information, the risk of human-to-human transmission remains low.”
The WHO advised against special screening of passengers at points of entry or restrictions on travel and or trade with the Russian Federation.
Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain were reported last year in chickens or wild birds in Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland , Romania and Russia, according to WHO.
Due to the rapid spread of bird flu strain, H1N1, worldwide among humans, the WHO declared a flu pandemic in 2009-2010. But the revolution was very mild among the people.