Posted on 06/30/2020 8:04:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published on Monday in the US science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.
It possesses “all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans”, say the authors, scientists at Chinese universities and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
From 2011 to 2018, researchers took 30,000 nasal swabs from pigs in slaughterhouses in 10 Chinese provinces and in a veterinary hospital, allowing them to isolate 179 swine flu viruses.
Most were of a new kind that has been dominant among pigs since 2016.
The researchers then carried out various experiments including on ferrets, which are widely used in flu studies because they experience similar symptoms to humans – mainly fever, coughing and sneezing.
G4 was observed to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses.
Tests also showed that any immunity humans gained from exposure to seasonal flu did not provide protection from G4.
According to blood tests that showed up antibodies created by exposure to the virus, 10.4 per cent of swine workers had already been infected.
The tests showed that as many as 4.4 per cent of the general population also appeared to have been exposed. The virus has therefore already passed from animals to humans, but there is no evidence yet that it can be passed from human to human – the scientists’ main worry.
“It is of concern that human infection of G4 virus will further human adaptation and increase the risk of a human pandemic,” the researchers wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at scmp.com ...
Yeah it is. Next up, comet so far unobserved may strike planet in near future...stay tuned.
Just cut off all travel and business with China now please...
Sounds like they are actively striving to create another pandemic.
Good thing our borders are closed.
RE: Good thing our borders are closed.
When did this happen? Have the illegal border crossings stopped?
Another non engineered bio weapon, close them down to the world
Just in time for the election.
It was a joke. Lol
I’ve no idea whether international travel is going on or not.
I said a second virus release.
Those who are asymptomatic for Covid-19 ...get H1N1 and don’t make it.
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