Apologies. Pressed ‘send’ too soon.
… I felt the topic made me feel a bit scared and I thought ‘oh no, not another one’ in my ‘Brenda from Bristol’ voice.
But today’s Telegraph had a short article that reassured me somewhat. It’s behind a paywall so I’ve C&P for those who, like me, felt anxious yesterday!
‘Potential pandemic
Our Foreign Staff
A FLU virus found in Chinese pigs has become more infectious to humans and needs to be watched closely in case it becomes a potential “pandemic virus”, a study said, although experts insisted there is no imminent threat.
A team of Chinese researchers looked at influenza viruses found in pigs from 2011 to 2018 and found a G4 strain of H1N1 that had “all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus”, according to the paper, published by the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Pig farm workers also showed elevated levels of the virus in their blood, the authors said. The World Health Organisation will read the study carefully, spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a Geneva briefing yesterday.
While the virus is capable of infecting humans, there is no imminent risk of a new pandemic, said Carl Bergstrom, a biologist at the University of Washington. “There’s no evidence G4 is circulating in humans, despite five years of extensive exposure,” he said.’
SNP and Greens end coalition deal
Scottish political mess. Is Devolution working?
