Russia has reported the first known cases of H5N8 in humans today on February 20, 2021. Seven farmworkers were confirmed to have been infected at a farm in Southern Russia where an outbreak had been confirmed in December. There has been no indication of human-to-human transmission.
“Today, I want to inform you about an important scientific discovery made by scientists at the Vector Scientific Center,” Anna Popova, the head of Russia’s consumer health watchdog, said on Saturday. “The first cases of human infection with [avian influenza A(H5N8)] have been laboratory confirmed.”
“The virus can be transmitted from birds to humans, it has overcome the interspecies barrier,” Popova said. “As of today, this variant of the influenza virus is not transmitted from person to person. Only time will tell how quickly future mutations will allow it to overcome this barrier.”
