Researchers from China discovered a new form of swine flu which can infect humans and has the potential to result in a future pandemic.
However, scientists have cautioned that the new swine flu virus does not pose an immediate global health threat.
The new virus, called the G4 virus, is a genetic descend from the H1N1 swine flu that led to the 2009 pandemic.
The study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) stated the G4 virus shows “all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus.”
The G4 virus was discovered by Chinese researches during a pig surveillance program.
The research included 30,000 nasal swab samples from pigs in slaughterhouses and veterinary teaching hospitals across 10 Chinese provinces, between the years 2011-20018.
Although the G4 virus kept showing up in pigs year after year during the research, there was a sharp increase in the G4 virus after 2016.
The research states that people who have taken the seasonal flu vaccines won’t have any immunity to the G4 virus.
Tests demonstrated that the G4 virus can infect humans by binding to our cells and receptors and replicating quickly inside our airway cells.
There is no evidence of the G4 virus spreading from human to human yet.
G4 virus has already infected humans in China as 4.4% of the general population tested positive in a survey from 2016 to 2018.
The Chinese researchers warn that the virus could “pose a serious threat to human health” if not carefully monitored.