Another flu virus is spreading in China. According to scientists, it could cause a new pandemic

The virus, for which scientists use the name G4 EA H1N1, was detected between 2011 and 2018 in people employed in the pig industry. According to available information, it can multiply in airway cells and there is probably no effective vaccine against it at the moment, the BBC warned.

Legitimate concerns?

“We should not ignore him,” said Professor Kin-Chow Chang. “Currently, our focus is on the coronavirus – and rightly so. But we must not forget about potentially dangerous viruses, “he explained.

Although theoretically a flu pandemic could break out at any time, in reality it is very rare. This is usually in situations where a new strain appears that can spread rapidly through the population. The similarity of the newly discovered strain with the swine flu, which terrified the world in 2009, is therefore alarming.

Although the flu at the time did not have as high a mortality rate as originally estimated, according to some studies, it could have been killed by up to 579,000 people. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially lists 18,500 victims, but these statistics do not include deaths without access to the health system.

“This is a healthy reminder of the fact that we are constantly at risk of developing new pathogens,” James Wood, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge University, responded to the new study. “The source of pandemic viruses can also be farm animals, with which people have more frequent contact than with wild ones,” he added.

Insufficient sample

However, some researchers point out that the new study is not very informative due to the relatively small sample of pigs tested. There are currently 500 million of them kept in China, stated the magazine Science.

“The flu can surprise us. Of course, there is a risk that we will neglect other threats due to the coronavirus pandemic. But we don’t have a broad enough picture of what is happening in Chinese pigs, “concluded Martha Nelson of the US National Institutes of Health, adding that more samples were needed.

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