Chinese study warns new swine flu virus has ‘pandemic’ potential
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Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that could be capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published on Monday in the US science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Some experts say that the virus does not currently pose an imminent threat.
The virus has become more infectious to humans and needs to be watched closely in case it becomes a potential “pandemic virus,” according to the authors, who include scientists at Chinese universities and China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
From 2011 to 2018, researchers took 30,000 nasal swabs from pigs in slaughterhouses in 10 Chinese provinces and in a veterinary hospital, allowing them to isolate 179 swine flu viruses.
Among those viruses, researchers found a “G4” strain of H1N1 that has “all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus.” The researchers carried out various experiments, including on ferrets, which experience flu symptoms similar to humans.
Following the tests, researchers found that G4 was highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses.
They also found that pig farm workers had elevated levels of the virus in their blood. According to blood tests, which showed antibodies created by exposure to the virus, 10.4% of pig farmers had already been infected by the virus, and as much as 4.4% of the general population also appeared to have been exposed.
Tests also showed that any immunity humans gain from exposure to the seasonal flu does not provide protection from the G4 strain.
