Gikas Majorkinis, professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the School of Medicine at the University of Athens, spoke on the topic of bird flu but also the coronavirus, vaccines, side effects and whether all of these are threats to people in the form of a pandemic.
“Bird flu appears to be moving closer to humans, but currently lacks the potential to cause a pandemic”
It is rarely transmitted to humans
Speaking to ERT about whether bird flu can be transmitted to humans, Mr. Majorkinis said that bird flu is rarely transmitted to humans and this is due to the incompatibility of the respiratory biology of birds with that of humans.
“It’s been several years, since 2020, that what they call ‘highly pathogenic’ bird flu has appeared, which has spread across the planet.”
As Mr. Majorkinis explained, this means that the virus cannot easily infect humans, especially the cells of the upper respiratory tract, those that are accessible, i.e. the nose.
“If it infects and it happens, in rare cases, it directly infects the deeper parts of the lung and for this reason those who have been infected, which are less than a thousand in these years have gone through particularly severe pneumonias and it has ended up from those we have diagnosed more than 50%. It is therefore a very pathogenic flu for humans, but a flu that is not transmitted between humans,” he said.
It is not transmitted from person to person
Mr. Majorkinis then said that not once has it been observed that man transmits it to man, therefore it does not have the potential to cause what we call a pandemic.
“Now the worrying part that has been heard is that it has been transmitted to cattle farms in the United States and it has also been detected in the milk that these cows produce. However, because the milk is pasteurized, the virus is dead, so it is not transmitted through the milk of pasteurized milk,” explained Mr. Majorkinis.
And he concluded: “Let me clarify that so far no milk-to-human transmission has occurred. So yes, the virus seems to be taking steps closer to humans, but for now it does not have the potential to cause a pandemic.”
Vaccines and medications available
Regarding the available vaccines and drugs, Mr. Majorkinis noted that “the scientific community is monitoring this, and there is a vaccine available for professionals who will come into contact with these animals soon, but also drugs are available.”
To then add: “So it’s not something that if and when it happens, we’re going to have to start from scratch. And there will be a vaccine and there will be drugs, so we don’t think it will be something dramatic like Covid-19 was, but we don’t think it will happen anytime soon,” he concluded.
The coronavirus is in global recession
Referring to the issue of the coronavirus, Mr. Majorkinis said that “we are in a global recession, so there is no particular concern. All that is being heard, but at a very early stage, are some new variants that have emerged and are prevalent in the US, but at a very low rate.”
As he explained, all these variations are in an industry that has been called “flirting” and they are waiting to see how it will develop. “That’s the only thing that can be heard right now, but it doesn’t seem like it’s causing a problem,” he said.
Vaccine side effects are rare
He then commented on reports of side effects from some vaccines, saying: “Vaccine side effects are extremely rare. He had Astra Zeneca at a very low rate some. These are blood clots and for this reason, after the first stages, it was limited only to older people. In any case, these are very rare side effects, less than one in 100,000 people.”
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