The World Health Organization said, Friday, that the risk of spreading the “H5N8” strain of bird flu among humans appears low, after it was discovered for the first time in the world by workers on a Russian farm.

Anna Popova, head of the consumer health watchdog “Rosbotrepandsor”, said that Russia had detected the first case of influenza A, “H5N8”, in which the virus was transmitted from birds to humans, and reported the matter to the World Health Organization. A statement by the World Health Organization stated that 7 people in Russia had been infected with the virus, but none of them had symptoms following an outbreak of the virus in a poultry farm in the southern Astrakhan region.

It added that more than more than one has died. 100 thousand of the birds on the farm, which numbered 900 thousand chickens in December, was the reason behind the start of the investigation.

Al-Arabiya.net had addressed questions in this regard to the World Health Organization, to which Dr. Rana Al-Hajjah answered. , Director of Program Management at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, said that avian influenza viruses are naturally transmitted between wild waterfowl all over the world. Wild waterfowl can be infected with avian influenza virus in their intestines and respiratory systems, but they do not usually get sick. However, poultry or domestic birds (chickens, turkeys, etc.) may become infected with avian influenza virus through direct contact with infected waterfowl or other infected poultry, or through contact with surfaces contaminated with the virus.

*) Avian influenza viruses are very contagious among birds, and some of these viruses can cause disease or death to some types of poultry, including chickens, ducks and turkeys.

And about the possibility of corona virus merging with the influenza virus. Birds, the argument indicated that corona viruses are a different viral family from the viral family that causes influenza, and a merger between them cannot occur. No cases of merging between viruses of different viral families have not previously been reported.

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