A new virus strain found in China has many scientists concerned about the potential for another pandemic.
The new strain of the flu virus was recently spotted in pigs, but researchers believe the virus can transfer into humans. Researchers said that the virus has “all the hallmarks” of other pandemic-causing viruses in that it could be highly infectious in humans and there could be no known immunity as the virus is new to humans.
Researchers have been preparing for an influenza-type pandemic, despite the respiratory coronavirus pandemic that the world continues to battle. They believe that this virus strain, which they’ve named G4 EA H1N1, is similar to the swine flu virus that spread in 2008. The strain that spread in 2008 was not as lethal because it was very similar to a strain that had spread previously, so older people had some immunity to the virus.
The new H1N1 strain can attack the airways of an infected person and contains some differences in the virus structure from the 2008 strain. Current flu vaccines, which include protections to the 2008 H1N1, do not appear to prevent the new strain.
Professor Kin-Chow Chang of Nottingham University told the BBC on Monday that the virus is not a major threat to the population right now, despite its appearance in some pork production plant employees in China. He urged his fellow researchers to keep an eye on this virus while continuing to work on COVID-19, which also originated in China.
“Right now, we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses,” he said. “We should not ignore it.”
