Alert! Swine Flu Descendant 'G4' Virus With Pandemic Potential Found In China; Know All About The New Disease

The new strain of swine flu virus named 'G4' is a descendant of H1N1 virus, with properties similar to the European avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus which had led to a terrifying pandemic in Mexico in 2009.

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While the novel Coronavirus pandemic is not even close to being to over, a new strain of virus with pandemic potential has been found by researchers in China. According to a study published on Monday in the US based science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers in China have uncovered a new strain of H1N1 Swine Flu virus that has potential of triggering a global pandemic. What is 'G4' Swine Flu Virus? As stated in the science journal, the Chinese researchers have claimed that the new strain of swine flu virus named 'G4' is a descendant of H1N1 virus, with properties similar to the European avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus which had led to a terrifying pandemic in Mexico in 2009. It is has been bound that this new strain is a triple reassortant virus, which means its genetic sequence is a different combination of three of the eight segments of H1N1 RNA. As quoted in an international news agency AFP report, Scientists at Chinese universities and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention are of the belief that "the new strain of Swine flu has all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans." Other reports have mentioned scientists from several other institutions including Shandong Agricultural University and the Chinese National Influenza Center who claimed that they had started doing a research on the G4 virus during a pig surveillance program. From 2011 to 2018, the researchers collected more than 30,000 nasal swab samples from pigs in slaughterhouses and veterinary teaching hospitals across 10 Chinese provinces. From these samples, researchers identified at least 179 swine influenza viruses, however, not all of them posed a concern. While some of these appeared only once a year, few others in fact eventually declined to nonthreatening levels. However, the G4 virus kept showing up in pigs, year after year. How is it dangerous for humans? It was noted that the virus showed sharp increases in the swine population after 2016. Further tests showed that G4 can infect humans by binding to our cells and receptors, and it can replicate quickly inside our airway cells. As of now, the scientists have revealed that the virus has already infected humans in China. But there is no evidence yet that it can be passed from human to human. "It is of concern that human infection of G4 virus will further human adaptation and increase the risk of a human pandemic," the researchers wrote in the journal. Meanwhile, head of the World Health Organisation today warned that the Coronavirus pandemic is not even close to being over. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that six months after China first alerted the WHO to a novel respiratory infection, the grim milestones of 10 million confirmed infections and 500,000 deaths had been reached. The WHO is sending a team to China next week in connection with the search for the origin of the virus that sparked the global pandemic. The organisation has been pressing China since early May to invite in its experts to help investigate the animal origins of the Coronavirus. "We can fight the virus better when we know everything about the virus, including how it started," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference. "We will be sending a team next week to China to prepare for that and we hope that that will lead into understanding how the virus started." WATCH | 72 attendees of Bihar wedding test Corona positive