{"id":2070,"date":"2025-01-16T19:20:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T19:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/16\/unchecked-spread-of-avian-flu-virus-raises-red-flags\/"},"modified":"2025-01-16T19:20:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T19:20:29","slug":"unchecked-spread-of-avian-flu-virus-raises-red-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/16\/unchecked-spread-of-avian-flu-virus-raises-red-flags\/","title":{"rendered":"Unchecked spread of avian flu virus raises red flags"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-1258709\">\n    <!-- .entry-header --><\/p>\n<div class=\"first-img article_thumbnail_wrapper\" itemscope=\"\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n                                                                    <picture><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/chicken_farm_H5N1_bird_flu_shutterstock-320x200.jpg?v=1736962896\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"600\" class=\"picture-main-block-image\" data-nxsrc=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/chicken_farm_H5N1_bird_flu_shutterstock.jpg?v=1736962896\" alt=\"Unchecked spread of avian flu virus raises red flags\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/chicken_farm_H5N1_bird_flu_shutterstock-960x600.jpg?v=1736962896\"\/><br \/>\n                        <\/source><\/picture>\n<p>[Shutterstock]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Greek experts warn that the H5N1 avian flu could pose a severe public health threat after recent findings revealed its potential to infect humans more efficiently. The concern follows the first US death on January 6 in Louisiana, where a man over 65 with pre-existing conditions contracted the virus from his backyard poultry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis virus is nearing a point where it might adapt to human hosts more easily,\u201d said Professor Athanasios Tsakris of the University of Athens Medical School. A recent study, he said, shows the current strain can bind to human airway cells more effectively than its predecessors. One mutation in its hemagglutinin protein could shift the virus\u2019 preference from avian to human receptors, he noted.<\/p>\n<p>The analysis by the CDC in the US of samples from the Louisiana case found mutations in the virus\u2019 hemagglutinin gene, appearing post-infection. \u201cThis evolution highlights the virus\u2019 unpredictable potential,\u201d Tsakris added, warning \u201cH5N1\u2019s unchecked spread could yield a pandemic-capable virus.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n        var NXFBPixelFunc = function () {\n            document.removeEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n            setTimeout(function () {\n                !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n                    if (f.fbq) return;\n                    n = f.fbq = function () {\n                        n.callMethod ?\n                            n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)\n                    };\n                    if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n                    n.push = n;\n                    n.loaded = !0;\n                    n.version = '2.0';\n                    n.queue = [];\n                    t = b.createElement(e);\n                    t.async = !0;\n                    t.src = v;\n                    s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                    s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)\n                }(window, document, 'script',\n                    'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n                fbq('init', '109138906120213');\n                fbq('track', 'PageView');\n            }, 0)\n        };\n        document.addEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n    <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/in-depth\/society-in-depth\/1258709\/unchecked-spread-of-avian-flu-virus-raises-red-flags\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Shutterstock] Greek experts warn that the H5N1 avian flu could pose a severe public health threat after recent findings revealed its potential to infect humans more efficiently. The concern follows the first US death on January 6 in Louisiana, where a man over 65 with pre-existing conditions contracted the virus from his backyard poultry. \u201cThis &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Unchecked spread of avian flu virus raises red flags\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/16\/unchecked-spread-of-avian-flu-virus-raises-red-flags\/#more-2070\" aria-label=\"Read more about Unchecked spread of avian flu virus raises red flags\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/chicken_farm_H5N1_bird_flu_shutterstock-960x600.jpg?v=1736962896","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}