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Could a strain of swine flu virus cause a new pandemic? G4 H1N1, discovered in China, is causing concern.
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Chinese researchers say in study they identified a swine flu virus strain possessing all the “essential traits showing a high adaptability to contaminate humans”. In full context Covid-19, the news worries. Theabsence of human-to-human transmissions over several years is reassuring, however. Elements of explanation.
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The latest addition to the virological scene, “G4” genetically descends from the H1N1 virus. In itself, discovering a new virus is not “something exceptional,” comments epidemiologist Yves Coppieters (ULB). more disturbingis that it belongs to H1N1 family, which caused a previous epidemic of influenza A worldwide. ”
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This flu, known as “Mexican”, had affected more than 25 million people on the planet from 2009 to 2010. About 18,000 of them died.
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Zoonose
Let’s keep a cool head, we’re not there yet. Between 2011 and 2018, Chinese researchers carried out a large campaign of tests on pigs. This operation allowed them to isolate 179 swine flu virus.
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According to scientists, workers and people working with pigs were relatively likely to have been infected (10.4%).
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“So we are talking about a pig disease, which is surprisingly transmitted to humans. We are in a pattern of zoonose (passage of the virus from animal to human, Editor’s note), no pandemic “, details Yves Coppieters.
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“Over a long period of time, the fact that the virus has not mutated to spread from person to person is reassuring enough.”
Yves Coppieters
Epidemiologist and professor at the School of Public Health (ULB)
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Although it considers that G4H1N1 may constitute a “serious candidate” for a future pandemic, virologist Steven Van Gucht also stresses that there is “no indication to affirm that this virus “can currently pass between human beings.
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“Over a long period of time, the fact that he did not transfer to transmit from person to person is enough reassuring“, abounds Coppieters.
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Don’t let your guard down
The absence of transmissions interhumaines so far should not lead to lower guard. This is all the more true, given the results of an experiment conducted on ferrets.
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“These animals, which have fairly similar characteristics to humans in terms of cellular receptors, transmit it,” says Professor Coppieters. “An animal model is not a human model, but scientifically it is possible. It is not because we have receptors that the virus will find the conditions to develop.”
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Asked about G4H1N1, a spokesperson for the diplomacy, for its part, minimized the danger, assuring that his country would continue “to monitor the disease and treat it in a timely manner”.
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