Researchers have found a new virus in pigs that are capable of causing pandemic.
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”, said the authors, scientists at Chinese universities and China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in the study published on Monday.
Right from 2011 to 2018, scientists made a study on different viruses by taking 30,000 swabs from pigs in the slaughterhouses in 10 different places in China. They isolated 179 swine flu viruses.
The experiments then was conducted on ferrets as it develop symptoms similar to that of humans.
They found that the G4 virus extremely dangerous causing more serious problem in ferrets.
Tests also showed that any immunity humans gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4.
It is also found that the humans are already exposed to the virus, revealed during antibody tests.
More than 4.4 population is already exposed to the virus, the study suggested.
However, the scientists are yet to identify if there is human to human passage, something that will be more dangerous.
