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Long standing fans of LSS will recall our earlier pieces comparing SARS-CoV-2 with flu viruses, which are a bit like distant cousins. SARS viruses give you colds and flu gives you, well, flu. Chillingly it’s the flu class that is starting to seriously worry some Chinese scientists. We are running a link from El Pais by Jaime Santirso, so you’ll need your translators. We post the paper as well from PNAS.
Like most things El Pais notice, it’s good peer-reviewed science. 30000 samples from 10 provinces found no less than 179 new viruses. It’s the one with the tongue tripping name G4EAH1N1 which is raising eyebrows. It’s in pigs; it can infect humans, but fortunately there’s no evidence yet of human to human transmission. So far. Yet. Fingers crossed. Don’t forget the last type A flu H1N1 back in 2019, which killed at least 150,000 people, but maybe more like 575 000.
What do we think? If you want to stop worrying about all these pandemics, and the hits they give the world economy, maybe it’s time to stop eating factory meat. Yep, you eat a little less meat, a little more expensively, but that will far from kill you. Stop people from smashing into forests, tearing down all the trees because they think it makes them look big and macho, and thereby releasing goodness knows what viruses into our food chains. And maybe spend a little more on medical research and a bit less on new toys like cars and shoes?
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/23/1921186117
#influenzavirus #h1n1 #sarscov2 #covid19 #pigs #china
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