A virus expert is urging people to remain alert, but not alarmed after it was revealed yesterday a new flu virus in China posed a risk of another pandemic. [Source: TVNZ]
A virus expert is urging people to remain alert, but not alarmed after it was revealed yesterday a new flu virus in China posed a risk of another pandemic.
The new virus is similar to the H1N1 swine flu which swept the world in 2009, according to the paper published yesterday in the journal PNAS.
However, unlike the swine flu, the current influenza vaccine doesn’t appear to cover the newly identified virus G4 EA H1N1 and people don’t have immunity for it – although the flu vaccine could be adapted if necessary.
Otago University evolutionary biologist and virologist Dr Jemma Geoghegan told TVNZ that the illness in pigs needed to be monitored closely though.
Dr Geoghegan said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought more attention to this new flu virus, but she said it was a good thing to be alert to the risks of pandemics before they emerge in humans.
