PNAS: Gofu et al. find a new swine flu virus or trigger the next pandemic

The influenza in pigs is an acute and contagious respiratory disease in pigscharacterized by suddenness, cough, difficulty breathing, fever and rapid returnSwine flu is caused by influenza A virus (A virus), usually between pigs, and is highly contagious but usually does not cause deathAutumn and winter are high-risk periods, but can spread throughout the yearusually humans are rarely infected with swine flu virusa team of researchers affiliated with several research institutions in China and the United States found evidence of a new swine flu virus that could pose a threat to humansIn their paper, published,, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (
PNAS), the team described their extensive testing of pigs and people they came into contact with in China, as well as what they learnedmedia around the world have reported that researchers in China have discovered a new strain of swine flu that could trigger a pandemic at a time when the world is suffering from a coronavirus pandemicThese reports may exaggerate the threatThe new strain, known as G4 EA H1N1, is not currently shown to be able to transmit from person to person, according to researchersthe study is just one part of an ongoing program in China where medical staff have been regularly testing domestic pigs for the virus in the hope of containing it before it spreads to peopleIn the paper, the researchers focused on testing strains of swine flu that appeared between 2011 and 2018, during which time 179 strains of swine flu were found, most of them G4 They also found that the rate of infection in pigs has risen sharply since 2016, and that G4 is by far the most common strain found in Pigs in China the swine flu virus, known as G4, evolved from the H1N1 strain of the 2009 pandemic, AFP reported Scientists at the China Agricultural University and the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention point out that the virus presents all the basic characteristics of highly adaptable to infecting humans the United Morning Post, the researchers found that The G4 is highly contagious and can be replicated in human cells tests have shown that any immunity from human exposure to seasonal influenza is not enough to fight the G4 virus Humans have little immunity to the virus The study also noted that 10 percent of pig farm workers were infected based on blood antibody tests, and that 4.4 percent of the total population may have been exposed to the new swine flu virus last flu pandemic began in 2009 with an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, infecting tens of millions of people worldwide But the fatality rate was not as severe as initially feared But scientists stress that it can't be taken lightly researchers also found that the G4 contains DNA the H1N1 strain in 2009 , which was discovered after the of the H1N1 epidemic in 2009 H1N1 strain was behind the pandemic that year They found that The of G4 had been transmitted to humans, and that 2,
people in had been diagnosed with swine flu, and that 10 percent of people known to have been exposed to infected pigs had G4 antibodies The worry is that the G4 strain will continue to evolve, possibly to be able to spread from person to person, triggering a swine flu outbreak and even a pandemic N1H1 flu virus particles researchers say the new swine flu strain represents a potential threat that is strong enough to be taken with some precautionary measures The first step in this process has begun in China, where researchers are closely monitoring the virus and keeping a close watch on pig workers, and the next step is to develop the vaccines needed A vaccine against swine fever in Africa developed in China is progressing well, according to a report on June 10, 2020 African swine fever has severely affected pig farming in China and led to soaring pork prices Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (
The caAS ) website reported that authorities have since been working on ways to prevent the disease, and the vaccine strain passed a national review in december 2019 2019 March 2020, the vaccine was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture for clinical trials in northern Heilongjiang province, central Henan and northwest Xinjiang According to the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, clinical trials of vaccines developed by the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute are progressing well CaAS is expected to accelerate the development of vaccines Reference: 2 3
Source: