Virologist Pavel Volchkov: if an epidemic breaks out due to the new H3N8 influenza virus, mortality rates will be the highest.
On Recently it became known that infection with a new strain of bird flu H3N8 for the first time led to the death of a person – a woman infected with it died in China. Virologist Volchkov noted in an interview that infection with this type of bird flu can be fatal due to lack of immunity.
“People have no immunity to H3N8 at all. Here, no vaccines and case histories with other forms of influenza will not help, ”the expert said.
How big is the risk that a new strain could cause an epidemic as big as the previous ones? According to Volchkov, we can only talk about the likelihood of an epidemic if the flu, transmitted to humans from animals or birds, acquires the ability to be transmitted from one person to another.
“The main question is how many mutations the virus needs to survive in order to person to person. On average, this requires at least five to eight key mutations,” the virologist explained to Gazeta.Ru.
He added that the mutations of the new strain from which the woman died could (theoretically) take place in her body. The probability of this expert assessed as very small. Also, in his opinion, it is a mystery how infection with the H3N8 strain that claimed the life of a woman in China could have occurred.
Virologist Volchkov: CNS damage with influenza could mean a risk of deathHowever, if it turns out that this subtype of bird flu has mutated and gained the ability to spread in the human population, a new large-scale epidemic could indeed cover the planet. Volchkov is convinced that in this case, the H3N8 bird flu epidemic will outnumber coronavirus victims. -2, which caused the current pandemic,” the scientist stated.
Earlier, the MedikForum.ru portal wrote that measles can be contracted simply by riding in an elevator.
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Pavel Volchkov Medicine Virologist, Head of the MIPT Genomic Engineering Laboratory