Seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia were the first people to contract the H5N8 strain of bird flu in humans.
Russia told the World Health Organization that the virus is not yet spreading between people, Anna Popova, the country’s head of public health, said Saturday, Bloomberg reported. All farm workers had asymptomatic cases and recovered, she said.
The species was first reported in November and was found in 15 regions of Russia in both poultry and wild birds. It was not initially considered dangerous to humans.
“It is not passed from person to person,” said Popova. “But only time will tell how quickly future mutations will allow it to overcome this barrier.” The world has an opportunity to prepare for possible mutations and respond in a timely manner to develop tests and vaccines for the strain, she said.
The Vector Institute of Siberia said Saturday it would begin development of human tests and a vaccine against H5N8, the RIA news agency reported.
The WHO acknowledged having received the information from Russia. “We are in talks with national authorities to gather more information and assess the public health implications of this event,” the organization said in an email to Reuters.
H5N8 has also been found in France, where hundreds of thousands of birds were slaughtered last month to prevent spread. It was also the cause of the worst bird flu outbreak in Japan in late 2020, and has been found in China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months, but only in poultry so far.