Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, announced the discovery of yet another "evidence" of the US development of biological weapons on the territory of Ukraine; The Insider has repeatedly written about his previous “revelations”. According to him, the documents seized from the laboratory of the Ukrainian biosphere reserve Askania-Nova (the reserve is located in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region) indicate the participation of the Kharkov Institute of Veterinary Medicine in American projects for the study of avian influenza, and the Pentagon was named as the customer of the research. Kirillovsays :
“The task force of the Russian Ministry of Defense, together with employees of the Federal Security Service and the Rosselkhoznadzor, confirmed the facts of the collection and certification of strains of the avian influenza virus that have a high epidemic potential and are able to overcome the interspecies barrier, in particular, the H5N8 strain, the lethality of which when transmitted to humans can reach 40 percent” .
The H5N8 virus strain was first identified in 1983 and has since caused several outbreaks of avian influenza worldwide. Until 2021, cases of transmission of this virus to humans have not been recorded; in February 2021, the first known cases were reported in Russia: 7 employees of a poultry farm in the Astrakhan region became infected. According to WHO, in all cases, the infection was asymptomatic. No other cases of human infection with this strain were observed (it cannot be ruled out, however, that asymptomatic infection could go unnoticed), so that in reality the ability of H5N8 to overcome the interspecies barrier is most likely low, and its lethality when transmitted to humans is not 40%, but 0. This strain is safe for humans.
The real danger is another strain of the bird flu virus, H5N1, which, however, Kirillov does not report on working with in Ukrainian laboratories. In 2011, WHO announced that since 2003, 566 cases of human infection with this strain have been recorded in the world, and 332 people, i.e. 58.7%, have died from it. However, there are suggestions that in reality the mortality rate is much lower, since those who were infected in an asymptomatic or mild form, most likely, did not go to the doctors. All cases of transmission of the virus to humans are the result of direct contact with infected birds; virologists call this route of transmission ineffective. In 2003, New Zealand virologist Robert Webster published an article in which he predicted the most dangerous pandemic for humanity if the virus mutated, which would give it the ability to be transmitted from person to person. So far, his prediction has not come true.
RIA Novosti also quotes Kirillov as saying:
"Through the approved strategy, Washington plans to create a US-controlled architecture for the prevention, response and neutralization of biothreats in its national interest."
This is quite plausible; It is not clear just what is dangerous in the biothreat neutralization system. It would be strange if a highly developed state did not do this.