What is swine flu and how many deaths has it caused?

A NEW strain of swine flu which can infect humans and has the potential to cause another pandemic has been identified by scientists in China.

Here is everything we know about the new strain of swine flu.

What is swine flu?

According to the , “swine flu” is the popular name for the virus A/H1N1pdm09 or it is often shortened to H1N1.

It’s a type of seasonal flu and is now included in the annual flu vaccine.

What was the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic?

In 2009, the H1N1 virus was first identified in Mexico. 

It became known as swine flu because it’s similar to flu viruses that affect pigs. 

The virus spread rapidly from country to country because it was a new flu that young people weren’t immune to. 

However, the outbreak was not as serious as originally predicted because many older people were immune to it. 

According to the NHS website, most cases in the UK were relatively mild although there were some serious cases. 

The relatively small number of cases that led to serious illness or death were mostly in young adults and children with underlying health conditions. 

On August 10, 2010, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the swine flu pandemic officially over.

What is the new swine flu virus in China?

The new strain, named G4 EA H1N1, is similar to swine flu that caused the 2009 pandemic as it possesses “all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus”. 

Researchers at Chinese universities and China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected the new strain of virus after taking 30,000 swabs from pigs in slaughterhouses. 

The swabs were taken in ten Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2018.

It is feared the bug could mutate and spread easily from pigs to people, spreading through the human population, triggering a global outbreak like Covid-19. 

The researchers said there was some evidence suggesting it could already have infected people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China.

The scientists said: “All of this evidence indicates that G4 EA H1N1 virus is a growing problem in pig farms, and the widespread circulation of G4 viruses in pigs inevitably increases their exposure to humans.”

Have there been any deaths linked to the new outbreak?

No, there have been no recorded deaths linked to the new swine flu outbreak.

The symptoms are similar to that of other strains of flu.

These include fever, chills, a runny nose, body aches, headache, tiredness, nausea and diarrhoea.