Dangerous New 'G4' H1N1 Swine Flu Virus Rising in China - 10% of Pork Plant Workers Infected Across 10 Provinces - EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists

Dangerous New ‘G4’ H1N1 Swine Flu Virus Rising in China — 10% of Pork Plant Workers Infected Across 10 Provinces

(EnviroNews World News) — With the U.S. still embroiled in a COVID-19 crisis, scientists in China are sounding the alarm again, warning of a new, potentially deadly pandemic. The G4 EA H1N1 Swine Flu Virus has jumped from pigs to people, and its genetic makeup is scarier than the first round of swine flu in 2009. With Eurasian avian-like (EA) genes, genes from the H1N1 swine flu responsible for the 2009 outbreak, and other flu genes seen in pigs since 2016, the G4 virus has all the nasty qualities of a pandemic pathogen.

Worse, workers in the pork industry are being infected with the disease at an alarming clip, with over 10 percent (35) of the 338 people tested across 10 provinces in China turning up positive for G4 antibodies. That number was higher for those between the ages of 18 and 35 at over 20 percent (9/44), which suggests the virus has a very high level of human infectivity. In Hebei and Shandong provinces, 4.4 percent of the general population tested positive for antibodies in a survey conducted from 2016 to 2018, according to CNN.

The study, titled, Prevalent Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza virus with 2009 pandemic viral genes facilitating human infection, was published June 29, 2020 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The study abstract indicates that previous swine flu infections provide no protection against this new strain.

“From the data presented, it appears that this is a swine influenza virus that is poised to emerge in humans,” says Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney. “Clearly this situation needs to be monitored very closely.”

The virus has emerged through a process known as “reassortment,” which can happen when the same hog becomes infected with multiple influenza viruses. The viruses can readily swap genes and give birth to a new pathogen, which in turn can be passed from one creature to another.

“Pigs are intermediate hosts for the generation of pandemic influenza virus,” the authors of the study wrote. “Thus, systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is a key measure for pre-warning the emergence of the next pandemic influenza.” The scientists who completed the research also recommend that heavy attention be put on controlling the zoonotic virus in the swine population and that those working with pigs should be monitored and tested frequently.

Ferrets that were infected with the agent had more severe flu symptoms than from other viruses too and were also highly contagious. Ferrets suffer from the same types of symptoms as people. While the virus can proliferate in the epithelial cells in human airways, there hasn’t been any evidence of person-to-person transmission as of yet, which is the virology community’s greatest fear.

“The work comes as a salutary reminder that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of zoonotic pathogens and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses,” said James Wood, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge University.

“Right now, we are distracted by coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses,” Kin-Chow Chang, co-author of the study and professor at Nottingham University in the UK, told the BBC.

In 2009 and 2010, H1N1 Swine Flu emerged to kill between 8,900 and 18,000 people in the United States, according to the CDC, affecting younger people more widely than those over the age of 60, who had partial immunity due to previous flu vaccines. Though the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic officially over in August 2010, the virus still circulates worldwide causing illness and death.

“We just do not know a pandemic is going to occur until the damn thing occurs,” said Robert Webster, a retired influenza investigator at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, to Science Magazine. “Will this one do it? God knows.”

OTHER PANDEMIC REPORTING BY ENVIRONEWS

Ghastly Video: Iowa Select Farms Exposed by Whistleblower for Cooking Thousands of Hogs Alive in ‘Cruel,’ Mass Extermination

(EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – Grundy County, Iowa – “They have it all sealed off, insulated, and they’re pumping in steam from the machine outside. And they are going to roast the pigs alive in this sauna.” Those were the words coming from an investigator in a video…

Tobacco Smokers Less Likely to be Hospitalized for COVID-19, Data Suggests – Go Figure

(EnviroNews World News) – While researchers stress that smoking is dangerous to health and likely to kill the smoker, they have found one surprising benefit for those who use tobacco: it appears that smoking may inhibit the contraction and development of COVID-19, a.k.a. coronavirus. According to The Guardian, at…

0 Deaths: Vietnam Kicked Butt on Tamping down COVID-19 Outbreak, and Vietnam War Techniques Were Part of It

(EnviroNews World News) – Of Vietnam’s approximately 97 million citizens, only 270 have been confirmed positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) and with 225 cases resolved, not one person has died as of Apr. 26. While some may question these numbers, Dr. John MacArthur, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and…

COVID-19 Response: There’s a Reason NY Has 2.5 Times the Cases and Deaths of CA (and it’s Not Geography)

(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – Both New York (ranked fourth by total population) and California (ranked first) harbor huge populations compared to other U.S. states, and both were visited by millions of foreign travellers in the months leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak that started in January. However, New…

True or False? Toilet Paper Shortage is Caused by Panic-Buying (The Real Reason Behind the US TP Problem)

(EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – As lockdowns due to the COVID-19 virus continue to roll out across the United States, many people are scared and some are looking at ways to profit from that fear. In the center of it all is toilet paper. While empty shelves have…

George Floyd Protests Sure to Spark New Wave of COVID-19 Cases, Experts Warn

(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – As demonstrations begin to change their focus and possibly wind down following the charges brought against the four officers involved in the killing of George Floyd, police officers and protestors face an insidious threat: COVID-19. Coronavirus is still active, and politicians and the medical…

Victory in Congo: 2nd Largest Ebola Epidemic Ever Extinguished with New Vaccine, Partnerships

(EnviroNews World News) – North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo – On June 25, 2020, 42 days after the last diagnosed case, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the DRC’s 10th Ebola epidemic officially over. The outbreak in North Kivu province…

Ebola Cases Spike in Congo Again, Still under Siege from COVID-19 and Massive Measles Outbreak

(EnviroNews World News) – Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of Congo – The Democratic Republic of Congo has been hit with a second outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. CNN is reporting the city of Mbandaka has nine recent cases, including five fatalities, one of which was a 15-year-old girl. According to…

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

FILM AND ARTICLE CREDITS