It is highly likely that the virus can pass from a pet to a human, says Alexander Gintsburg, director of the N.F. Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.
The virologist warned that this could cause a real epidemic, writes RuNews24.ru.
"The mortality rate there is 50-70%. With airborne transmission, smallpox will seem like a toy compared to what can happen as a result of one or two mutations," he said.
In this regard, Ginzburg stressed the importance of creating a prototype vaccine against the H5N1 strain in order to quickly establish mass production of the drug in case of a threat.
