The relatively new type of swine flu virus that Chinese scientists warn about is one to keep a close eye on, according to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). For the time being, however, the institute sees no reason for measures in the Netherlands.
“We are not doing all kinds of things preventively, but are following developments through our international networks,” said a spokeswoman. For example, the institute follows scientific publications and all bulletins from the World Health Organization (WHO). If these give cause for action, for example, the National Influenza Center of RIVM and Erasmus MC can be called in for further research.
In their publication in the American scientific journal PNAS, the Chinese researchers write that the G4 virus strain contains “all the important characteristics of a candidate pandemic virus”. A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic.
G4 is highly contagious and can pass from pig to human, but there is no evidence that humans can infect each other. The study found that 35 of the 338 pig farmers surveyed had contracted the virus. Existing flu vaccines do little against it. Ferrets that received it became sicker than other flu viruses.
G4 is genetically derived from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. That virus caused a pandemic in 2009.
The well-known Belgian virologist Steven van Gucht agrees with his Chinese colleagues. “We know that flu viruses cause a pandemic about every 20 years. This virus is a serious candidate for several reasons,” he told De Morgen. De Gucht works for Sciensano, the Belgian counterpart of RIVM.
RIVM points out that the virus is not really new: infections were already noticed and described in 2016.
By: ANP | Photo: Still NOS
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