By Eamonn Burke
As the coronavirus continues to ravage the United States and the entire world, new concerns have sprung up over another virus with roots in China.
The flu virus is a newer strain of H1N1, a highly contagious and deadly disease that swept the world in 2009 and became a seasonal illness. This new strain, called G4 EA H1N1, first cropped up in 2016 among pig farms in China. It can and has spread to humans through the respiratory system without causing harm, but scientists are warning of the viruses pandemic potential.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says that the virus is not an “immediate threat” but rather “something we need to keep our eye on just the way we did with in 2009 with the emergence of the swine flu.” He has compared the characteristics of the virus as similar to the swine flu as well as the Spanish flu that killed between 30-50 million people.
Although the virus right now does not seem to have deadly or highly transmissible traits, what it does show is “reassortment capabilities” that suggest that it could become a major problem quickly, and one that needs to be controlled urgently. While President Trump falsely asserts that the coronavirus is fading, scientists worry about how the nation would cope with another pandemic on our hands.
