A swine influenza virus discovered to be conducive to a future pandemic

It is urgent to implement a follow-up of the population that works in contact with pigs, according to the authors of the study published this Monday in the journal

Surveillance of the population that works in contact with pigs must be urgently introduced, according to the authors of a study published this Monday in the journal PNAS.

The next episode after the Covid-19 crisis? Researchers have discovered a strain of the swine flu virus in China that has all the characteristics that could trigger a future pandemic, according to a study published Monday in the American scientific journal PNAS.

The virus is called G4 and is genetically derived from the H1N1 strain that caused the 2009 pandemic: “they have all the essential characteristics that show high adaptability to infect humans,” write the authors, scientists from Chinese universities and the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

symptoms

The work presented is large: from 2011 to 2018, 30,000 nasal swabs were taken from pigs in slaughterhouses in ten Chinese provinces and a veterinary hospital, to isolate 179 swine flu viruses. Most were new varieties, which have become dominant in pigs since 2016.

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The researchers then conducted several experiments in the laboratory and on ferrets, animals used in flu research because their symptoms are similar to those of humans: they have a fever, cough, and runny nose. They found that the G4 virus is more infectious, replicates in human cells, and causes more severe symptoms in ferrets than other strains. Furthermore, based on in vitro tests, immunity acquired after contact with the human seasonal influenza virus does not protect against G4.

many workers are already contaminated

The other bad news is that workers and people who work with pigs are relatively likely to have been infected, a drop of 10.4%, according to blood tests that looked for the presence of antibodies to the virus. 4.4% of the general population is also contaminated. The virus would have been in humans in the past, the scientists report, but there is no evidence that it can be transmitted from human to human. Today is your fear.

“Pandemics occur when influenza A viruses with a new HA surface antigen become capable of person-to-person transmission,” the researchers conclude. “The concern is that human infections with the G4 virus will not lead to human adaptation and increase the risk of a human pandemic.” It is urgent, they say, to implement monitoring of populations that work in contact with pigs.

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“The work is a salutary reminder that we are at constant risk from zoonotic pathogens, and livestock, with humans in increased contact with wildlife, are a major source of pandemic viruses,” said James Wood, director of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge.

Update date: June 30, 2020, 09:58

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Source: newstars.edu.vn