Not a single person is immune to the new H3N8 influenza virus, virologist and head of the MIPT Genomic Engineering Laboratory, Pavel Volchkov, told socialbites.ca.
The World Health Organization reported that on April 11, a woman in China died from H3N8 bird flu. This was the first known human death from a new strain of bird flu.
“People have no immunity to H3N8. Therefore, no vaccines and case histories of other flu strains will help here. Their activity will be minimal,” explained Volchkov.
Occasionally, viruses are transmitted from one species to another, especially humans. However, the virologist noted that certain conditions are necessary for this to happen. H3N8 is known to be a subtype of influenza A virus that commonly affects birds, horses and dogs. It is best known as the equine flu virus. However, according to WHO, a woman who died in China was infected with a wild bird.
“The flu virus is mainly characteristic of warm-blooded animals. Accidental transmission of the virus from a bird to a person is unlikely, for which you would need to ingest a very large part of the virus. It usually infects wild poultry and is already a human host. In this case, the infection story is mysterious,” said Volchkov.
However, it is too early to talk about a new outbreak, as person-to-person transmission needs to be confirmed for the virus to spread within the human population.
“The real question is how many mutations a virus needs to survive for human-to-human transmission. On average, this requires at least five to eight key mutations. However, theoretically, all these mutations can occur in a person, and if there is an immunodeficiency, it could be a Chinese woman who died, ”the virologist explained.
However, the probability of such an event is still small. Otherwise, humanity may catch a new epidemic. Also, the death rate of H3N8 would be much higher than the current pandemic-causing SARS-CoV-2.