The first human infection with the H5N8 bird flu virus was discovered in Russia

Russia announced on Saturday that its scientists had discovered the first case of H5N8 infection with bird flu to humans, and had informed the World Health Organization of this important discovery.

"The information about the world's first H5N8 bird flu infection in humans was sent to the World Health Organization," the head of the Russian Health Department, Anna Popova, said in televised statements.

This highly contagious strain kills birds, but there has been no prior information on its transmission to humans.

Popova said that scientists in the Russian laboratory Victor, isolated the genetic material for the strain in seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where it spotted a focus among birds in December.

She denied any serious health repercussions for the workers.

Popova praised the "important scientific discovery" and said "time will tell" whether the virus is capable of further mutating.

She said, "Discovering these mutations at a time when the virus has not acquired the ability to transmit between humans gives us all, the whole world, time to prepare for potential mutations and to respond in an appropriate and rapid manner."

And the Victor Institute of Virology and the Biotechnology Center, located in Koltsovo, on the outskirts of the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, has developed one of the many Russian vaccines against the emerging corona virus.

In the Soviet era, the highly secretive laboratory conducted research on biological weapons and still stored viruses from Ebola to smallpox.

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