Scientists warn of the possibility of a new pandemic threat

While countries around the world are still struggling with coronarys, scientists warn of the danger of another virus with “infertical subspace”, which has emerged in China between pigs and people working with pigs, writes world media.

They point out that there is no record of a new form of swine flu virus in humans, but they say there is a danger of further mutations that can lead to global spread.

Virus G4
A new scientific study warns that the new form of H1N1 flu is spreading in silence among swine farm workers in China and that it should be placed <x)0 is urgently” under control to avoid another pandemic, writes the New York Times.

Some veterinarians and health officials controlled a dead pig in order to prevent swine flu. Picture from the archive.
Some veterinarians and health officials controlled a dead pig in order to prevent swine flu. Picture from the archive.
G4 virus's new form EA H1N1 has been present on Chinese swine farms since 2016 and reproduces in human respiratory organs, reports a study published on June 29th in the American science magazine PNAS (Procedions of the National Academy of Science).

So far, writes the New York Times, the virus has been found in some people without causing disease, but health experts fear that it can change.

The Euro-Asian version of H1N1 has circulated between pigs in Europe and Asia for decades, says the study, but the presentation of the G4 virus to pigs in China, with breathing symptoms, has intensified since 2014 and data suggests that this virus poses a growing problem in all farms. The widespread circulation is said to increase human exposure to the virus.

The bat and other animals part of the coral puzzle
Citing scientists, the New York Times writes that the main step is to determine whether any of the pig farm workers have contracted the virus from other people.

H1N1 is highly transmitted and caused an pandemic in 2009 at a relatively low mortality rate of about 0.02 percent, the American newspaper writes.

By comparison, in 1918 the death rate of the flu pandemic, also caused by H1N1, has been about 2.5 percent, with about 50 million people dead.

Study published in the magazine PNAS is based on pig monitoring in 10 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2018.

In the last three years, researchers have received samples from 15 pork farms and 230 people. It has been found that 10.4 percent of workers and 4.4 percent of others [family members] have been positive with G4 EA H1N1 and that the virus has been more present among workers between the ages of 18 and 35 - 20.5 percent.

The study was sent for revision in early December, weeks before the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Vwan, China, which has attracted world attention.

Pandemic potential
Scientists in the new study say the new flu virus detected in China has the potential to be contagious and that it should be monitored carefully if it becomes a possible pandemic virus, even though experts say there is no immediate threat, Reuters writes.

PNAS research shows the danger of viruses passing human transmission barriers, especially in densely populated areas of China, where millions live near farms, slaughterhouses and wet markets, Reuters writes, to add that the current Coronobvirus, which is believed to have infected more than 10.3 million people in the world and have died of a species of bats in southwest China and that it may have been transmitted to people through a food market in Vuhan.

The authors of the study say that workers on swine farms have had high levels of the virus in the blood and point to careful monitoring of the population, especially pigs industry workers.

“Kina is closely monitoring developments in this direction. We will take all necessary measures to prevent spread and infection with the new body of”, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on June 30th.

The PNAS study says pigs are considered <x0mics” important for generations of pandemic flu viruses and call for continued monitoring of the problem, Reuters writes, explaining that the new virus is a recombinance of H1N1 version from 2009 and the former form prevalent in pigs.

The Adaptability of the new virus
According to the BBC, researchers fear that the new virus with <x0 potential pandemic “” can mutate further so that it can be transmitted more easily from human to human, which can lead to global spread.

The new form of the flu is one of the biggest infectious threats experts are monitoring, as the world is trying to fight the pandemic caused by the Coronavirus, writes the BBC, highlighting the study warning that the new virus is not an urgent problem but that it carries all the “signs of a highly adaptable virus that can infect people.

The recent flu pandemic in 2009 was less deadly than initially forecasts, in part because many seniors had immunity and perhaps because it was similar to other viruses that have circulated in the previous years, the BBC explains, and adds that the virus, called A/H1N1pm09, is covered with annual flu vaccine.

Although the current flu vaccine does not appear to protect against the new G4 form, it is possible to adapt to the need, writes British service.

Kin-Chow Chang, who works at Nottingham University in Great Britain, told the BBC that the world is now preoccupied with coronary, but that “should not lose attention to new, potentially dangerous --”.

Added swine Control
After the swine flu pandemic in 2009, which, according to various estimates, has killed between 150,000 and 575,000 people worldwide, authorities and scientists have increased the supervision of pigs, in search of viruses with “subservial pandelic <des1>, reports CNN.

Researchers from several Chinese scientific institutions, within a 2011 to 2018 swine monitoring programme, have obtained more than 30,000 samples and have identified 179 swine flu viruses.

But, according to CNN, not all have caused concern, as some have appeared only over a year.

The G4, however, has emerged year-on-year and has shown sharp increases among pigs since 2016.

Tests have shown that G4 can infect people and multiply rapidly in respiratory cells. CNN points out that, even though the new virus has H1N1 genes, people who have received the seasonal flu vaccine have no immunity from it.

Differences between new coronary and seasonal virus
However, there is no evidence that G4 can spread from person to person, which is an encouraging sign, says Carl Bergstrom, a biologist from University of Washington.

It's not a new virus, it's been very common among pigs since 1916”, Bergstrom wrote on Twitter. “There is no indication that G4 is being circulated among people, despite the widespread exposure for five years”, he added.

The swine flu appears in people who are in contact with infected pigs, and symptoms are similar to common flu - fever, drowsiness, lack of appetite, cough, nose leak, throat pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.

After 2009, the H1N1 virus in humans has returned to pigs and, writes CNN, genes have been mixed into new combinations, creating new viruses like G4.