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The so-called G4 variant of an H1N1 influenza virus, currently circulating among pigs, has genetic traces of several other dangerous pathogens, including the virus that caused the 2009 flu pandemic, according to a study published yesterday (June 29) in PNAS. In laboratory experiments, the researchers found that these G4 viruses were able to infect and replicate in human airway epithelial cells. Moreover, the study found that the viruses could be transmitted between ferrets.
“From the data presented, it appears that this is a swine influenza virus that is poised to emerge in humans,” University of Sydney evolutionary biologist Edward Holmes, who was not involved in the study, tells Science. “Clearly this situation needs to be monitored very closely.”
Ian Brown, the head of the virology department at Britain’s Animal and Plant Health Agency who peer-reviewed the paper, agrees. “It may be that with further change in ...
