ladycatlover
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I'm sorry this is a long post! There's a new Swine Flu arriving, which may have pandemic potential. This is what I received from ProMED-mail earlier today. Sorry to be bearer of bad news! But better we know than don't know.
INFLUENZA (06): CHINA, SWINE, H1N1 PANDEMIC POTENTIAL
*****************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
[1]
Date: Mon 29 Jun 2020
Source: Dailystar.uk [edited]
<https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/flu-virus-pandemic-potential-found-22273518>
A new strain of flu discovered in China has the potential to become
another pandemic, and humans would be extremely vulnerable to it.
Scientists have identified a strain of influenza that has recently
emerged among pigs called G4 EA H1N1. It's similar to the swine flu of
2009, and researchers say it's one to keep an eye on even as the world
struggles to bring the current COVID-19 pandemic under control.
They have discovered evidence of it infecting people working in
abattoirs and other swine facilities in China. The virus can grow and
multiply in the cells lining the human airways, new research
indicates. There are concerns that the strain could mutate further and
become more infectious, spreading easily from person to person and
potentially triggering a global outbreak.
Professor Kin-Chow Chang and his colleagues say G4 EA H1N1 has "all
the hallmarks" of a pandemic in the making and must be monitored
closely to control its spread among pigs, they wrote in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
Because the virus is so new, humans likely have little or no immunity
to it, making it more dangerous. Current flu vaccines don't seem to
protect against it, although they could be adapted to do so should it
become necessary.
"Right now, we are distracted with coronavirus, and rightly so," Prof
Chang of Nottingham University told the BBC. "But we must not lose
sight of potentially dangerous new viruses." While G4 EA H1N1 isn't
presenting an immediate problem, we "should not ignore it," he said.
Public health experts are constantly on the lookout for new strains of
influenza that could trigger a mass outbreak among humans. During the
2009 pandemic, swine flu proved to be less deadly than expected,
because many older people turned out to have some level of immunity to
it, likely because it was similar to other flu viruses from previous
years.
[Byline: Sophie Bateman]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
******
[2]
Date: Tue 30 Jun 2020
Source: BBC News [edited]
<https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53218704>
A new strain of flu that has the potential to become a pandemic has
been identified in China by scientists, BBC reports. It emerged
recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say.
The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it
can spread easily from person to person and trigger a global outbreak.
While it is not an immediate problem, they say, it has "all the
hallmarks" of being highly adapted to infect humans and needs close
monitoring. As the virus is new, people could have little or no
immunity to it.
The scientists write in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences that measures to control the virus in pigs, and
the close monitoring of swine industry workers, should be swiftly
implemented.
[Byline: Michelle Roberts]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Influenza A viruses are found in a range of hosts including humans
and a wide range of mammalian and avian species. Reassortment of
influenza viruses is a major mechanism to generate novel viruses with
unique antigenic and biological characteristics, which may have
potential to cause human epidemics and pandemics.
Historically, pandemic influenza A viruses from 1918, 1957, 1968, and
2009 were all reassortants derived from animal influenza viruses that
caused major global pandemics and either disappeared or became adapted
to humans, causing annual epidemics. Pigs, being susceptible to avian,
swine, and human influenza A viruses, are regarded as "mixing vessels"
in the generation of influenza viruses with pandemic potential. The
emergence of the 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) H1N1 virus was the latest
example of such a novel emergence leading to a global pandemic.
This virus was described in a recent publication on influenza virus
surveillance of pigs from 2011 to 2018 in China and identified as a
recently emerged genotype 4 (G4) reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA)
H1N1 virus, which bears 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) and triple-reassortant
(TR)-derived internal genes and has been predominant in swine
populations since 2016. The virus, described by the researchers as "G4
EA H1N1" is able to grow and multiply in the cells that line the human
airways. The full publication can be accessed at
<https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/2020/06/23/1921186117.full.pdf>.
The paper was published at the end of April 2020. The immense impact
of COVID-19 on health systems has shifted a lot of focus from
influenza surveillance, and the article reminds us of other serious
contenders for the pandemic slots.
The researchers found evidence of recent infection in people who
worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China when they looked
at data from 2011 to 2018. "Further serological surveillance among
occupational exposure population showed that 10.4% (35/338) of swine
workers were positive for G4 EA H1N1 virus, especially for
participants 18-35 years old, who had 20.5% (9/44) seropositive rates,
indicating that the predominant G4 EA H1N1 virus has acquired
increased human infectivity."
Therefore, continuous surveillance of swine influenza viruses in pigs
and assessment of their zoonotic potential are essential for the
preparedness of human pandemics. - Mod.UBA
The G4 EA H1N1 virus addressed in the PNAS paper has not affected the
health of the sampled pigs; this virus is NOT pathogenic for pigs.
Pigs do suffer an OIE-listed disease "influenza A virus of swine
(IAV-S)," a highly contagious viral infection of pigs that can have
significant clinical and economic impact on an affected herd. The
subtypes of IAV-S that are most frequently identified in such
outbreaks are presented in chapter 3.8.7 of OIE's terrestrial manual
at
<https://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Health_standards/tahm/3.08.07_INF_A_SWINE.pdf>.
This disease is not zoonotic.
The chances of human influenza A viruses undergoing genetic
reassortment in pigs are higher when interactions and contact between
humans, pigs, and birds are intensive. The speedy, extensive spread of
African swine fever, a lethal viral disease, throughout China since
summer 2018 has been partially attributed to the difficulty in
controlling biosanitary requirements in the large number of small
holdings in the country. This led the national pig industry to try
reducing the number of small pig holders while encouraging the
establishment and operation of mega-farms.
The following information, relevant to the above, is based upon recent
Chinese reports scanned by ProMED-mail's rapporteur Dan Silver who is
gratefully acknowledged:
"13 publicly-listed pork producers... in 2018 had a combined slaughter
of 50.34 million heads, accounting for 7.26% of national hog
slaughter. In 2019, [these companies'] combined pig slaughter was
47.34 million heads, accounting for 8.70% of national pig slaughter.
Compared to 2018, there was increasing concentration [of production]."
(see <https://www.dxumu.com/22886.html>).
Most of the A-share [publicly-listed companies on China's stock
exchanges] pig companies adopt the "farmer + company" light breeding
model; that is, the company provides farmers with piglets, feed,
vaccines, and medicines; entrusts the farmers to raise [the piglets];
and waits for the piglets to grow to the threshold for slaughter. Then
they buy the pig back, according to a certain custody fee." (see
<https://www.huxiu.com/article/366000.html>)."
Most likely, there are numerous not-registered backyard small-holders
as well. In conclusion, a very large number of small pig farms is
maintained in China, preserving the intensive man-animal contact: a
system that is undesirable from a zoonotic point of view, as chances
of genetic reassortment are maintained. Similar hazards also relate to
live-animal-markets conditions. - Mod.AS
HealthMap/ProMED map of China: <http://healthmap.org/promed/p/155>]
[See Also:
2016
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Influenza, porcine - China: Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza
virus, pandemic potential http://promedmail.org/post/20160102.3904985
2010
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Influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009, animal (01): China, swine, canine
http://promedmail.org/post/20100101.0014]
.................................................uba/arn/tw/mj/lxl
I also wish there was international pressure for countries & large companies and industries to change. So many of these viruses jump from animal to human or mutate because of these reasons.
