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The new strain of flu is similar to the swine flu that spread around the world in 2009
A new strain of flu that could become a pandemic has been identified in China by scientists.
It appeared recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say.
Researchers are concerned that it can mutate further to spread easily from person to person and trigger a global epidemic.
While not an immediate problem, they say it has “all the hallmarks” of a great adaptation to infect humans and should be watched closely.
Since it is new, people may have little or no immunity to the virus.
These scientists write in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that measures to control the virus in pigs and close surveillance of workers in the pig industry should be quickly implemented.
Threat of pandemic
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A new bad strain of flu is among the top threats to disease that experts are watching as the world attempts to end the current coronavirus pandemic.
The last influenza pandemic the world experienced – swine flu in 2009 – was less deadly than initially feared, largely because many older adults were immune to it, possibly due to its similarity to d other flu viruses that had been around for years.
This virus, called A / H1N1pdm09, is now covered by the annual flu vaccine to make sure people are protected.
The new strain of flu that has been identified in China is similar to the swine flu of 2009, but with a few new changes.
So far, it has not posed a big threat, but Professor Kin-Chow Chang and his colleagues who have studied it say it needs to be watched.
How worried should we be?
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The virus, which researchers call G4 EA H1N1, can develop and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.
When examining data from 2011 to 2018, they found evidence of a recent infection in people who worked in slaughterhouses and in the swine industry in China.
Current influenza vaccines do not seem to protect against this disease, although they can be adapted to do so if necessary.
Professor Kin-Chow Chang, who works at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, tells the BBC that right now “we are distracted by the coronavirus, and rightly so.” “But we must not lose sight of the potentially dangerous new viruses,” he said.
While this new virus is not an immediate problem, it maintains that we should not ignore it.
In theory, an influenza pandemic could occur at any time, but these are still rare events. Pandemics occur if a new strain emerges and can easily spread from person to person.
Although flu viruses are constantly changing – that’s why the flu shot also needs to change regularly to keep up – they usually don’t become pandemic.
Professor James Wood, Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, said that this work “is a salutary reminder” that we are constantly at risk from the emergence of new pathogens and that animals livestock, with which humans are more in contact than with wild animals, can be the source of important pandemic viruses.
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