H5N8 Avian Flu Case Recorded in Riyadh Region

Image Caption: A nurse prepares a flu shot from a vaccine vial in this Feb. 7, 2018 file photo. Most doses of vaccine are made in a production process that involves growing viruses in chicken eggs. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

RIYADH: The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture on Sunday confirmed the detection of one case of H5N8 avian flu in Al-Kharj.

The ministry has been actively taking measures to control the spread of the disease.

The ministry affirmed that since the outbreak of H5N8 avian flu the number of samples collected reached 9,234 in the Kingdom. Only 140 of those samples tested positive, it added.

Bird flu strains have hit poultry flocks in a number of countries across the world in recent years, with some types of the disease also causing human infections and deaths.

H5N8 is highly pathogenic to birds (high death rates) and was first discovered in Ireland in 1983. Since then it has been reported in numerous locations around the world.

This strain, however, has not caused any human infections so far anywhere in the world.

(Source: ArabNews.com)