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China researchers discover new swine flu with 'pandemic potential'
(CNN)Chinese researchers have discovered a new type of swine flu that can infect humans and has the potential to cause a future pandemic, according to a study released on Monday, though scientists have cautioned that the virus does not pose an immediate global health threat.
The disease, which researchers called the G4 virus, is genetically descended from the H1N1 swine flu that caused a pandemic in 2009. G4 now shows "all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus," said the study, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
But Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University's public health school, warned the public not to "freak out."
"Our understanding of what is a potential pandemic influenza strain is limited," she posted on Twitter. "Sure, this virus meets a lot of the basic criteria but it's not for sure going to cause a hypothetical 2020 flu pandemic, or even be a dominant strain in humans."
...Further tests showed that G4 can infect humans by binding to our cells and receptors, and it can replicate quickly inside our airway cells. And though G4 holds H1N1 genes, people who have received seasonal flu vaccines won't have any immunity.
G4 already appears to have infected humans in China. In Hebei and Shandong provinces, both places with high pig numbers, more than 10% of swine workers on pig farms and 4.4% of the general population tested positive in a survey from 2016 to 2018.
There is no evidence yet that G4 could spread from person to person -- perhaps the most promising sign so far, said Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/asia/...scn/index.html
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So again they say it doesn't spread from person to person and poses no threat, yet. Sounds familiar.
Can we put the Great Wall of China all the way around China yet?
(CNN)Chinese researchers have discovered a new type of swine flu that can infect humans and has the potential to cause a future pandemic, according to a study released on Monday, though scientists have cautioned that the virus does not pose an immediate global health threat.
The disease, which researchers called the G4 virus, is genetically descended from the H1N1 swine flu that caused a pandemic in 2009. G4 now shows "all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus," said the study, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
But Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University's public health school, warned the public not to "freak out."
"Our understanding of what is a potential pandemic influenza strain is limited," she posted on Twitter. "Sure, this virus meets a lot of the basic criteria but it's not for sure going to cause a hypothetical 2020 flu pandemic, or even be a dominant strain in humans."
...Further tests showed that G4 can infect humans by binding to our cells and receptors, and it can replicate quickly inside our airway cells. And though G4 holds H1N1 genes, people who have received seasonal flu vaccines won't have any immunity.
G4 already appears to have infected humans in China. In Hebei and Shandong provinces, both places with high pig numbers, more than 10% of swine workers on pig farms and 4.4% of the general population tested positive in a survey from 2016 to 2018.
There is no evidence yet that G4 could spread from person to person -- perhaps the most promising sign so far, said Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/asia/...scn/index.html
===================
So again they say it doesn't spread from person to person and poses no threat, yet. Sounds familiar.
Can we put the Great Wall of China all the way around China yet?
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