Halfway Through 2020: I'm Not Done Yet!

‘Pandemic potential’: New swine flu strain discovered in China

A strain of swine flu that scientists fear has the potential to become a pandemic in humans has been identified in China.

According to a report from the BBC, researchers are concerned the flu could mutate and easily spread from person to person. Right now, it’s carried by pigs but could infect humans, according to scientists.

Experts say this strain has “all the hallmarks” of adapting to impact the human population. With it being a newer virus, people would likely have little to no immunity.

“We just do not know a pandemic is going to occur until the damn thing occurs,” Robert Webster, an influenza investigator, told Science Magazine. “Will this one do it? God knows.”

Scientists say G4 EA H1N1, which is the name of the new virus, could grow and multiply in human airways. They say the current flu vaccines don’t appear to protect against it, according to the BBC report.

“Right now, we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses,” said Prof Kin-Chow Chang of Nottingham University in the UK in an interview with the BBC.

As far as I know there's no rule that says you can't have two pandemics in one year. . . .