Russia has now recorded its first human case of H5N8 bird flu. Technically, this is also the world's first cases of H5N8 avian influenza.
World's bird flu cases
Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Saturday, that Russia registered the first case of a strain of bird flu virus named AH5N8 being passed from birds to humans.
It was already reported back to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the official.
Though the virus was reportedly confirmed in humans, there are still no reports saying that this virus could transfer from humans to humans.
"It is not transmitted from person to person. But only time will tell how soon future mutations will allow it to overcome this barrier," Popova said.
The discovery of this strain now "gives us all, the whole world, time to prepare for possible mutations and the possibility to react in a timely way and develop test systems and vaccines."
Avian influenza, according to US CDC, is very contagious and deadly among birds. However, as explained, there are no information yet discovered that the virus could be transfered from humans to humans.
However, WHO noted that "Though human infections with A(H5) viruses are rare and generally occur in individuals exposed to sick or dead infected birds (or their environments), they can lead to severe illness or death in humans."