New H1N1 Swine Flu Virus in China

Here we go again!

First. we’re still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. While the infection and death rates are dropping in many states, in others where the distancing rules have been too loose too soon, the infection rates seem to be picking up a bit. Some of it is due to carelessness, some may be a bit of rebelliousness. Being restricted out of a need for caution is not necessarily something that more rebellious souls want to heed. It’s summer! I want to go to the beach! I’m tired of the mask and SD!  – etc., etc., etc.

But now we have a new concern and we’re getting a warning ahead of time: swine flu is rearing its head already, and it’s coming from China – AGAIN!

A new swine flu virus is in the G4 lot, which should not jump to humans, but has already been found in two human workers in China so far. It is G4 EA H1N1. Chinese government is looking into whether or not this will mutate into another pandemic before long.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-swine-flu-strain-china-poses.html

From the article:  The work by the researchers is part of an ongoing initiative in China—medical workers have been regularly testing domestic swine for viruses in the hope of catching a virus jumping to humans before it runs rampant. In their paper, the researchers focus on testing that occurred between the years 2011 to 2018—a period during which 179 swine flu strains were found, though the bulk of them were G4. They also found that the infection rate in swine has been rising dramatically since 2016, and G4 is now the most common strain found in Chinese pigs.

The researchers also found that the G4 strain included DNA from 2009’s H1N1 strain, which was behind the pandemic that year. And they found that G4 has jumped to humans—two people with active infections were diagnosed and 10 percent of those known to be exposed to infected pigs had G4 antibodies. The fear is that the G4 strain will continue to evolve to the point that it becomes able to jump from person to person, triggering an outbreak and a possible pandemic. – article

Before you go off with ‘oh, not another pandemic!’, swine and avian flu viruses are mostly harmless, but are sometimes tranmissible to Humans. The 1918 H1N1 flu, which is referred to as the Spanish flu, was an avian strain traced by CDC through its DNA to Chinese workers who had found their way to Spain before the start of World War I. They were apparently less affected by it than the Americans and Europeans who were newly exposed to it, and it was lethal to Westerners. The “Spanish flu” made two swaths of destruction through Europe/UK and the USA/Canada, and elsewhere, and then faded.

Ironically, when the 2018 flu season started, CDC could not determine its origins until they found tissue samples from 1918 that had been preserved.  https://time.com/5610878/2018-2019-flu-season/

From the article: Most flu seasons start off with lots of infections from influenza A viruses, which can be more severe and less responsive to vaccination than other subtypes, while generally less-severe influenza B viruses often strike later. But this year, the CDC says, two different phases of influenza A activity dominated the season, contributing to its unusual length. H1N1 circulated widely from October to mid-February, then H3N2 picked up from mid-February into the spring, according to the new report.

Even still, high early-season vaccination rates and a relatively effective annual vaccine appeared to help suppress illnesses. In total, the CDC estimates that up to 42.9 million people got sick during the 2018-2019 flu season, 647,000 people were hospitalized and 61,200 died. That’s fairly on par with a typical season, and well below the CDC’s 2017-2018 estimates of 48.8 million illnesses, 959,000 hospitalizations and 79,400 deaths. – article

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", China, COVID-19