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Medicine China

Dr. Anthony Fauci Says New Virus In China Has Traits of 2009 Swine Flu, 1918 Pandemic Flu (cnbc.com) 182

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that U.S. health officials are keeping an eye on a new strain of flu carried by pigs in China that has characteristics of the 2009 H1N1 virus and 1918 pandemic flu. The virus, which scientists are calling "G4 EA H1N1," has not yet been shown to infect humans but it is exhibiting "reassortment capabilities," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during a hearing.

"In other words, when you get a brand new virus that turns out to be a pandemic virus it's either due to mutations and/or the reassortment or exchanges of genes," he told lawmakers. "And they're seeing virus in swine, in pigs now, that have characteristics of the 2009 H1N1, of the original 1918, which many of our flu viruses have remnants of that in it, as well as segments from other hosts, like swine." Fauci said Tuesday there's always "the possibility that you might have another swine flu-type outbreak as we had in 2009." "It's something that still is in the stage of examination," he said. It's not "an immediate threat where you're seeing infections, but it's something we need to keep our eye on, just the way we did in 2009 with the emergence of the swine flu."

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Dr. Anthony Fauci Says New Virus In China Has Traits of 2009 Swine Flu, 1918 Pandemic Flu

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  • G4 EA H1N1, has not yet been shown to infect humans

    Alright, it's a non-event then. Don't get me wrong. It's good to have these stories. Journalists doing their job. Sorta. Saying it has traits like the 1918 pandemic is alarmist and typical bullshit journalism. But 2020 has everyone on edge for the other shoe dropping. And apparently 2020 is some sort of caterpillar with serious arch support.

    • by dryeo ( 100693 )

      Some pig farmers have caught it. What hasn't happened is person to person infection. The fear is a mutation that does make it person to person communicable.
      The bright side is that we know a lot more about the flu then corona, including how to make vaccines. Still it is something to watch closely.

      • Re: Meh. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Serzen ( 675979 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @01:20AM (#60249482)
        The Guardian ran the story a day or two ago with better detail. It has yet to show human to human transfer, but because of some similarities to the 2009 swine flu, it's hoped that those who get an annual flu shot will have some resistance, as the majority of vaccines are designed to protect against swine flu
      • Re:Meh. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @02:28AM (#60249564)

        An obvious precaution would be to vaccinate the pig farmers.

        That way they won't get it from their pigs and the human-to-human transmission will never have a chance to evolve.

        Another obvious precaution would be to vaccinate the pigs.

        • by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

          Or perhaps social distance the pigs? It's not like pigs have the right to freely associate. Or that China upholds that right in the first place, but I digress.

        • Yes but why do that expensive stuff when you can just throw them both in a wood chipper? Yes that's a bit cheeky, but my confidence in the CCP doing the right thing is low.
      • Yep, and Influensa is one recombinant mutating little motherfucker.. Fortunately, we also know all about making vaccines for these things too.

        Yo China, make up for Covid by getting out ahead of this one with a Vaccine, in big supply, thanks!!.

        • Dont you find it a bit odd that the strain of covid that hit chicago and most of europe (often referred to as the G strain based on its sequencing) is an exponential factor more contagious than the strain that hit china? They wont distribute a vaccine even if they discover it. Any dr that leaks it will be disappeared. How is it that this G strain never made it back to china?? Hmmmm

      • "Some pig farmers have caught it. "

        Naughty.

      • Well, WHO infamously said COVID didn't transmit from person to person either...

      • Um...we have like a 40% chance of making an effective flu vaccine that is good for one season, that is the best we can do and we have had the flu since forever ago. How about we just do what we did before? Not travel internationally. That would have stopped COVID *snap* just like that.
        • by dryeo ( 100693 )

          The thing with the flu vaccine is which types of flu it targets, there are a lot of flu strains and it is an educated guess which to target. In this case they'd know what to target.
          And banning international travel only works so far. There's always exceptions. Can't ban citizens returning. There's usually essential worker travel and trade travel. For example, the Canadian US border is closed but there is still commercial traffic (trucks), people working in the other country, people passing through Canada to

          • China was aware of this in November. You cannot argue that 90% of this could have been mitigated by quarantines, if they had happened. They did not
      • Some pig farmers have caught it. What hasn't happened is person to person infection.

        ^This,

        "Tests showed that one type of virus, which the researchers call G4, can proliferate in human airway cells. In ferrets, which are a model for human flu, G4 causes lung inflammation and respiratory symptoms, including coughing. The virus can spread between ferrets by direct contact or through airborne particles of mucus or saliva. The researchers found that about 10% of 338 pig-farm workers tested had developed antibodies against the virus, which suggests that the virus can jump from pigs to people."

        ht [nature.com]

    • by Cylix ( 55374 )

      Gotta get them ad dollars.

      • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Well every single time the mention corona virus change the channel, drop the stream, let them know you are no longer interested and they will stop pushing the yarn.

    • If you don't understand viral reassortment I could see why you'd think so. The same social distancing methods the world is using with varying compliance/success against SARS2 will work against the flu, though, so we may luck out.
    • G4 EA H1N1, has not yet been shown to infect humans

      Summary got this wrong.

      There are cases of G4 EA H1N1 making the jump from pigs to humans.

      There are no cases of G4 EA H1N1 making the further jump from human to human.

      As of now, it is a hazard to pig farmers. If it becomes transmissible from human to human, it has the potential to become the next swine-flu pandemic.

  • Meat is mutation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by post_dystopia ( 6867562 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @10:53PM (#60249226)
    What is better for creating new diseases than moving animals all over the world, putting them close together, getting them to share water, opening up their bodies and letting their bloods all be in the same place? 'Bird Flu', 'Swine Flu', 'Foot and Mouth', 'Mad Cow Disease' sound a lot like 'meat industry byproducts'. The 1918 flu was borne of similar circumstances albeit with humans. I'll vote for other people's license to support the meat industry but I can't say I find it hygienic at any stretch. (Now let the derogatory remarks about China commence /s)
    • Nope, pro-vegan comments!

      Not becoming vegan at this point is basically as homicidal and moronic as not wearing a mask!

      *Vegetarian mask wearer here, virtuously virtue signalling.

    • (Now let the derogatory remarks about China commence /s)

      It's about swine, not cats and dogs...

      But that being said, does anybody else find it strange that here in Europe we have so many COVID-19 outbreaks among slaughterhouse personnel?

      • by Calydor ( 739835 )

        Slaughterhouses are the perfect storm of cramped quarters, low wages, and not being able to clean your hands every few minutes. You'd never finish your workday if you had to thoroughly wash your hands all the time in a place like that.

    • Re:Meat is mutation (Score:4, Informative)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @03:17AM (#60249620) Homepage Journal

      Well Mad Cow Disease was due to feeding cows bits of other cows and was only transmitted to humans when they ate that beef, so not really the same thing at all.

      I expect there will be another big cull of pigs in China if this thing spreads. I don't recommend looking but there are videos from the swine flu epidemic where they literally bulldozer hundreds of them into mass graves, still alive.

    • Re:Meat is mutation (Score:5, Interesting)

      by magusxxx ( 751600 ) <magusxxx_2000@yah[ ]com ['oo.' in gap]> on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @05:49AM (#60249848)

      Interesting Fact: There used to be a yearly celebration here which included an area set aside for a petting zoo for the kids. The animals came from various local farms. One year it was cancelled because of a disease which was affecting sheep and had spread around Great Britain, Ireland and possibly Europe. Since many international visitors would attend they canceled the petting zoo for fear they could transmit the disease to the animals. And then they would carry it back to the various farms.

      This decision was made in less than 15 minutes.

      Compare that to the decisions which are being made now about food safety. From Jan 2017 - May 2019 the FDA issues 37% less Food Safety warnings than the previous administration.

      "Enforcement of environmental and health protections at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has similarly declined, according to a report from the advocacy group the Environmental Integrity Project. The group found the EPA is conducting 60% fewer inspections of violations than the annual average and is referring fewer polluters to the justice department for civil prosecution." - Source: The Guardian

    • Instead of feeding pigs antibiotics by the pound, they could feed them Remdesivir by the kilo.

      • Did you read the article where its going to cost $4k for a 5 course treatment but that same 5 courses are estimated to only consume $10 in ingredients? Nobody is going to feed a pig $5k worth of medicine.

    • Maybe theres something to the whole
      Kosher food prep thing after all (minus the prayer part). If your theory proves correct, stand by for a new wave of .. the jews are poisoning the wells .. accusations again. They were resistant to the plague due to hygiene rituals.

  • by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2020 @11:07PM (#60249246) Journal

    ERROR: Quota on bad news exceeded. News Buffer Closed to New Content.

  • This has to be our version of Anthrax Leprosy Pi.

    • "wet market" is really the wrong term since it covers a wide variety of places but for the most part refers to what Americans would call a farmer's market. "wildlife market" is probably a better term
    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      Most of the early origin stories speculating on the exact location where the leap from animal to human host occurred haven't held up well.

      There was, without a doubt, an earlier cluster of cases associated with the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, but since that hypothesis was popularized in the press, earlier cases have been found with no connection to that or any similar market.

      Which is not to say that markets selling bush meat can't be a problem. Public heath people have been complaining about them for ye

  • by SinGunner ( 911891 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @12:17AM (#60249384)
    G4EA = GAEA. It's just a little too post-apocalyptic/cyberpunk to have our next pandemic be named after the Greek word for the planet we've overpopulated.
    • G4 comes form the protein identifier. EA comes form Eurasian-Avian. And it is a H1N1 type flu. The notion that you see G4EA = GAEA is just pareidolia.

      • Ah, but the Greek deities are famous for humor at the expense of man. Who is to say that Gaea isn't having a little fun by choosing the pertinent protein and geographic origin of her genocidal purge? A little reverse pareidolia. There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. If we're wiped off the map by this thing, let the no-longer-existent record state that I was correct.
  • by LazLong ( 757 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @02:41AM (#60249578)

    How are we going to "Keep an eye on it" when the Trump administration plucked its eye out when it cut funding and collaboration with the Chinese? Now we have to rely on the goodwill of our allies and whatever intelligence we can gather through covert means. Imagine how much more intelligence we can gather while working with them.

  • by maroberts ( 15852 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @03:27AM (#60249640) Homepage Journal

    Trump and Biden look like pretty bad choices in comparison

  • If it's being found in China, where the hygiene conditions for animals are can be utterly terrible, then it's a threat to all of us. They need to stop treating animals like garbage in China or all this research is about as meaningful as staring down the barrel of a gun.

  • by Miamicanes ( 730264 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @03:56AM (#60249684)

    Why do authorities limit the vaccine to only 3 or 4 strains, and only one batch per year? Why not do two flu vaccines per year, with totally different strains in each? They could use #1 for the "core" strains, and #2 for "emergent" strains.

    Influenza isn't just a winter disease. In cities like Miami, flu season is year-round. Why? We get lots of visitors from South America. July is the middle of THEIR flu season. And half the time, American influenza vaccine is worthless against those strains, because they're either too new,or weren't deemed important enough by whomever is in charge of picking strains for American influenza vaccine.

    • Flu antibodies don't last forever. They are pretty good at figuring out which antibodies will cover like 60-80% of the cases.

    • The current flu vaccine tech will support four strains per year, so each time manufacturers have to guess which 4 strains will be worst next year. A new version will be out soon that will support nine strains.

      • > A new version will be out soon that will support nine strains.

        That's awesome news. Do you happen to have a Google'able name or unambiguous phrase to search for? I'd like to learn more.

        The fundamental problem with American influenza vaccine right NOW is the fact that it overwhelmingly favors protection from strains that are lethal to vulnerable populations, over strains normal people are likely to actually CATCH. I know there was one particular year between 2012 and 2015 when they INTENTIONALLY made a c

    • Why not do two flu vaccines per year, with totally different strains in each?

      There *are* two vaccines a year. They alternate between each hemisphere and each flu season. Despite what you seem to think these don't just get ordered at McDonalds, the viral patterns are analysed, a vaccine is proposed, developed, trialled approved for use then mass produced and distributed, often this process barely gets the vaccine into the hands of those about to enter the flu season despite the process starting 6 months earlier.

      Influenza isn't just a winter disease. In cities like Miami, flu season is year-round. Why? We get lots of visitors from South America.

      That still makes it a winter disease and we should support progra

    • That'd be great, but you'd have to get Congress to fund it. We should be making rapid DNA vaccines against more things, too, but no one cared to throw money at it until SARS2 came around.
  • Now all we need is for the new virus (China virus 2, CV-2) to swap genes with Covid 19 (CV-1) in order to become spreadable human to human in the same way. When is the world going to do something about that filthy, primitive country infecting the world with wave after wave of new mass murdering infections?
  • See, for example, Humidity as a non-pharmaceutical intervention for influenza A. Another Mayo Clinic study showed that schools maintaining 50% humidity had factor-of-three fewer influenza cases than the control group of schools.

    Enshrouded-RNA viruses such as influenza, SARS, MERS, and CoVID-19 are known to be mildly sensitive to temperature, moderately sensitive to humidity, and quite sensitive to UV. This has been known by virologists in general since shortly after the 2003-vintage SARS outbreak, and

  • Well, the virus being relatively close to infecting humans is a story, as an informational piece. There are always a short list of viruses that are in this state. Bat-borne coronaviruses have been known to be close to human transmissions for years, that's one reason the virology institute was in Wuhan in the first place. But the fear mongering in this story is ridiculous. Fauci says it straight:

    that have characteristics of the 2009 H1N1, of the original 1918, which many of our flu viruses have remnants of that in it

    emphasis added. In ohter words, nothing in particular to see here except for the fact that scientists have been wo

  • Nature's just going to keep at this, until all countries are as good at responding to a pandemic as Ghana and South Korea and Japan.

    Or if we're lucky, it's not as bad as he fears, and everyone figures that out before embarking on unfortunate paths.

  • by andyring ( 100627 ) on Wednesday July 01, 2020 @09:13AM (#60250346) Homepage

    Just checked off another box on my apocalypse bingo card!

  • They mean Spanish Flu for the non-woke folk out there.
  • Knock it off already, its not funny anymore.

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