Scientists Uncover Pandemic Potential Of New Swine Flu Virus

Photo illustration (CDC / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Researchers in China have discovered a new strain of swine flu that has the potential to become a pandemic. This is explained in a study in the US science journal, PNAS. Launching The Guardian, Tuesday, June 30, the virus is named G4, which is genetically derived from the H1N1 strain that caused the pandemic in 2009.

It states that the virus has "all important features and is capable of adapting to infect humans," said the author, a scientist at Chinese universities and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The study was published yesterday, Monday, June 29.

As part of a project to identify a potential pandemic, the research team led by Liu Jinhua of China Agricultural University (CAU) analyzed nearly 30,000 swabs taken. The samples were taken from pigs in slaughterhouses in ten Chinese provinces.

The researchers also collected a thousand swabs from pigs with respiratory symptoms that were being treated in veterinary teaching hospitals. The swabs were collected between 2011 and 2018. As a result, researchers found 179 swine flu viruses, most of which were G4 or one of five other G strains.

"The G4 virus has shown a sharp increase since 2016 and is the dominant genotype in circulating pigs detected in at least ten provinces," they wrote.

Already infected humans

The researchers also conducted experiments, including on ferrets, which are ferret-like animals widely used in flu studies because they experience symptoms similar to those of humans. G4 was observed to be highly contagious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms.

This is indicated by a more serious ferret reaction against the G4 virus compared to other viruses. The results of other experiments also show that the existing immunity in humans against exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4. Some of the ten workers in the pig industry have been infected with the virus, according to antibody blood tests.

Tests also show that as much as 4.4 percent of the general population appears to have been exposed to the virus. Because of this, the virus has been shown to be able to move from animals to humans. Even so, there is no evidence yet that the virus can be transmitted from person to person, which is a major concern for scientists.

"It is of great concern that infection with the G4 virus in humans will increase human adaptation and increase the risk of a pandemic in humans," the researchers wrote adding that urgent steps be taken to monitor people dealing with pigs.

"This study serves as a good reminder that we are constantly at risk for the emergence of new zoonotic pathogens and livestock, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, could act as a source of pandemic viruses," said James Wood, Head of the Department of Medicine. Animals at Cambridge University.