In China, scientists have identified a new strain of swine flu, saying that it has the potential to grow into a pandemic. Moreover, the infection can be spread from the pigs to humans.
Pigs had been the host of the swine influenza virus in 2009. Today, scientists are looking at a new strain of Eurasian H1N1 (G4 EU H1N1). In their recent study, the team calls for urgent implementation of close monitoring in the swine industry.
In 2009, the swine influenza virus, or pH1N1, originated in Mexico. Two out of the six genetic strains of the virus were found to be Eurasian, avian-like viruses from pigs, which is similar to the new strain found recently.
Soon, the world was faced with an infection greater than initially anticipated, with an estimate of over 60 million cases in the United States and between 150,000 to 575,000 deaths worldwide during the first year of the outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Unlike previous influenza epidemics, H1N1 affected younger ages more than senior citizens.
By August 10, 2010, the World Health Organization declared the end of the virus pandemic yet it continues to circulate as a seasonal flu. There are still cases of H1N1 every year, but there is a vaccine already developed as well as antiviral medicine.
Another Pandemic
'We just do not know if a pandemic is going to occur until the damn thing occurs,' said Robert Webster, an influenza investigator. 'Will this one do it? God knows.'
'Right now, we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses," said Prof Kin-Chow Chang of Nottingham University in the UK, an author in the new study. More than just dangerous, the G4 EU H1N1 strain has the potential to become another pandemic. Their research notes that the G4 genotype 'has become predominant in swine populations since 2016.'
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Essential Hallmarks
The scientists report their influenza virus surveillance between 2011 and 2018 in China while completing the full genome sequencing of 77 viruses as a comparison. The first 'essential hallmark' of a possible pandemic they recognized in the new strain is the ability of G4 viruses to attach human receptors, making it likely for the virus to quickly find its way to the lungs, or airway epithelial cells. This means that the virus can efficiently be transmitted from one person to another.
In swine workers, 10.4% were positive for the G4 EA H1N1 virus, affecting a majority of individuals between 18 and 35 years old. A previous analysis of the 2009 pH1N1 estimated how much of the global population was infected by 2010. The 2013 study noted, 'Our data demonstrate that approximately 24% of the populations of countries for which there are data were infected during the first wave of the pandemic, with incidence reaching 50% in school-age children.'
'From the data presented, it appears that this is a swine influenza virus that is poised to emerge in humans," said Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney. "Clearly, this situation needs to be monitored very closely." The authors wrote that the 'G4 viruses have all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus.'
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