142 CMAAO CORONA FACTS and MYTH BUSTER: G4 EA H1N1

142 CMAAO CORONA FACTS and MYTH BUSTER: G4 EA H1N1

Dr K Aggarwal

President CMAAO

964: G4 New hybrid Flu Virus in Pigs with Pandemic Potential:  G4 EA H1N1

1. A new flu virus (hybrid) found in Chinese pigs has features that make it more infectious to humans and needs to be watched closely in case it becomes a potential pandemic virus.

2.  A team of Chinese researchers looked at influenza viruses found in pigs from 2011 to 2018 and found a "G4" strain of H1N1 that has "all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus", according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

3. G4 includes sequences from a virus discovered in birds in Europe and Asia, as well as the one that caused the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, which was a hybrid of human, swine and bird flu viruses.

4.  Pig farm workers also showed elevated levels of the virus in their blood.

5.  Pigs are considered important "mixing vessels" for the generation of pandemic influenza viruses

6.  China took action against an outbreak of avian H1N1 in 2009, restricting incoming flights from affected countries and putting tens of thousands of people into quarantine.

7.  The new virus identified in the study is a recombination of the 2009 H1N1 variant and a once prevalent strain found in pigs.

8.  But while it is capable of infecting humans, there is no imminent risk of a new pandemic.

9.  There's no evidence that G4 is circulating in humans, despite five years of extensive exposure.

10. Are these experimental viruses?