New Virus with PANDEMIC potential

[RadX]

Meanwhile, whilst Covid is still around....

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53218704?at_custom3=BBC+News&at_custom2=facebook_page&at_custom4=1148D5C6-BA40-11EA-8D3C-B0574D484DA4&at_custom1=[post+type]&at_campaign=64&at_medium=custom7&fbclid=IwAR2-uNadmc3vl1cGIdkvNFnXCF8mA6cY3f-7uWIKozZcqCs80Ds9gX5mhTU&fbclid=IwAR3s4A_HIa0m1GFExTdWKfOxTuNiOd7zp_8Yp7p17dZDXx9jA0vmKr13-14

 

Pandemic threat

A bad new strain of influenza is among the top disease threats that experts are watching for, even as the world attempts to bring to an end the current coronavirus pandemic.

The last pandemic flu the world encountered - the swine flu outbreak of 2009 that began in Mexico - was less deadly than initially feared, largely because many older people had some immunity to it, probably because of its similarity to other flu viruses that had circulated years before.

Coronavirus: This is not the last pandemic

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Worst could be 'yet to come' in coronavirus pandemic

That virus, called A/H1N1pdm09, is now covered by the annual flu vaccine to make sure people are protected.

The new flu strain that has been identified in China is similar to 2009 swine flu, but with some new changes.

Media captionSearching for viruses in Thai bats - watch scientists collect samples from the animals in order to look for clues about coronaviruses

So far, it hasn't posed a big threat, but Prof Kin-Chow Chang and colleagues who have been studying it, say it is one to keep an eye on.

The virus, which the researchers call G4 EA H1N1, can grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.

They found evidence of recent infection starting in people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China.

Current flu vaccines do not appear to protect against it, although they could be adapted to do so if needed.

Prof Kin-Chow Chang, who works at Nottingham University in the UK, told the BBC: "Right now we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses."

While this new virus is not an immediate problem, he says: "We should not ignore it."

Prof James Wood, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, said the work "comes as a salutary reminder" that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of pathogens, and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses.

[Mockngbrd]

Kung Flu

[Tianmo]

2 hours ago, RadX said:

Meanwhile, whilst Covid is still around....

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53218704?at_custom3=BBC+News&at_custom2=facebook_page&at_custom4=1148D5C6-BA40-11EA-8D3C-B0574D484DA4&at_custom1=[post+type]&at_campaign=64&at_medium=custom7&fbclid=IwAR2-uNadmc3vl1cGIdkvNFnXCF8mA6cY3f-7uWIKozZcqCs80Ds9gX5mhTU&fbclid=IwAR3s4A_HIa0m1GFExTdWKfOxTuNiOd7zp_8Yp7p17dZDXx9jA0vmKr13-14

 

Pandemic threat

A bad new strain of influenza is among the top disease threats that experts are watching for, even as the world attempts to bring to an end the current coronavirus pandemic.

The last pandemic flu the world encountered - the swine flu outbreak of 2009 that began in Mexico - was less deadly than initially feared, largely because many older people had some immunity to it, probably because of its similarity to other flu viruses that had circulated years before.

Coronavirus: This is not the last pandemic

Does the UK have coronavirus under control?

Worst could be 'yet to come' in coronavirus pandemic

That virus, called A/H1N1pdm09, is now covered by the annual flu vaccine to make sure people are protected.

The new flu strain that has been identified in China is similar to 2009 swine flu, but with some new changes.

Media captionSearching for viruses in Thai bats - watch scientists collect samples from the animals in order to look for clues about coronaviruses

So far, it hasn't posed a big threat, but Prof Kin-Chow Chang and colleagues who have been studying it, say it is one to keep an eye on.

The virus, which the researchers call G4 EA H1N1, can grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.

They found evidence of recent infection starting in people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China.

Current flu vaccines do not appear to protect against it, although they could be adapted to do so if needed.

Prof Kin-Chow Chang, who works at Nottingham University in the UK, told the BBC: "Right now we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses."

While this new virus is not an immediate problem, he says: "We should not ignore it."

Prof James Wood, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, said the work "comes as a salutary reminder" that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of pathogens, and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses.

 

[inlinesix]

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3091114/new-swine-flu-found-china-has-pandemic-potential-researchers-say

Quote

According to blood tests which showed up antibodies created by exposure to the virus, 10.4 per cent of swine workers had already been infected.

The tests showed that as many as 4.4 per cent of the general population also appeared to have been exposed

 

[mersaylee]

Going forward...don’t hang this during LNY...

flu 到我家? 

MLMLWML 

[1fast1]

1 hour ago, Mockngbrd said:

Kung Flu

Kung Flu: The Legend Continues. 

[Maxus-MIFA9]

2 hours ago, Mockngbrd said:

Kung Flu

Kung 'Chu' ....

Swine = pig

[Windwaver]

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cjrzp08wx4vt

British cruise ship passenger in intensive care after three die in suspected hantavirus outbreak

Three people have died following a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde - and another three people are reported ill.

There's been little fresh information on Monday - here's what we know so far:

Three Dutch nationals have died

A Dutch couple - a man aged 70, and a woman aged 69 - are known to have died.

The man died on arrival on the island of St Helena, a British territory in the South Atlantic.

The woman also became ill on board and was evacuated to South Africa, where she died in a Johannesburg hospital.

The third person who has died is also Dutch, and their body remains on board.

British national in hospital in South Africa

A 69-year-old UK national is in intensive care - also in Johannesburg - and local officials have told the BBC that he has a confirmed case of the virus.

A spokesperson from the South African Department of Health says he "became ill while the ship was travelling from St Helena to Ascension Island, and was transferred from a hospital in Ascension to a South African private health facility in Sandton for medical attention".

Two sick crew on board near Cape Verde

Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions has confirmed two crew members on board are sick and require medical care.

The ship is currently off the coast of Cape Verde - and appears to have been there for at least 24 hours - but the operator says authorities there have not given authorisation for them to disembark

[Windwaver]

 

[Jamesc]

That is one unglam looking cruise ship!

On 5/5/2026 at 6:47 AM, Windwaver said:

 

 

 

[RadX]

On 5/6/2026 at 5:16 PM, Jamesc said:

That is one unglam looking cruise ship!

 

ikr...ghost ship looks better....far better

 

[Tkseah]

Got 2 exposed persons in NCID.. how about those on the same flight as them..

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/hantavirus-mv-hondius-ncid-test-virus-isolated-cda-6106671

[mersaylee]

On 5/7/2026 at 6:17 PM, Tkseah said:

Got 2 exposed persons in NCID.. how about those on the same flight as them..

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/hantavirus-mv-hondius-ncid-test-virus-isolated-cda-6106671

No scared no scared...our store houses have enuf toilet papers and instant noodles...and to boost the booster anyone? 😂

[Windwaver]

On 5/7/2026 at 6:17 PM, Tkseah said:

Got 2 exposed persons in NCID.. how about those on the same flight as them..

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/hantavirus-mv-hondius-ncid-test-virus-isolated-cda-6106671

[Jamesc]

Wah this cruise took people to really rubbish places!

Full of rats and urine.

[Atonchia]

On 5/7/2026 at 8:55 PM, mersaylee said:

No scared no scared...our store houses have enuf toilet papers and instant noodles...and to boost the booster anyone? 😂

What booster? 

I only need bolster 😅

[SGCM928]

'Limited' hantavirus outbreak not the start of pandemic, says WHO (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/hantavirus-not-pandemic-who-cruise-ship-mv-hondius-6107396)

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Thursday (May 7) that a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic did not mark the beginning of a COVID-like crisis.

"This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic," WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove told reporters. "This is not COVID."'

The WHO warned, however, that more hantavirus cases could emerge, but it expected the outbreak to be limited if precautions were taken.

The fate of the MV Hondius sparked international alarm after three people travelling on it died.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva that five confirmed and three suspected cases had been reported overall, including the three deaths.

"Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported," he said, referring to the rare strain detected aboard the Hondius, which can be transmitted between humans.

His prediction was proved swiftly correct, with the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands announcing later on Thursday that another patient had tested positive. 

But the WHO's emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud insisted: "We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries."

Hantavirus is a rare respiratory disease that is usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and cardiac distress as well as haemorrhagic fevers.

There are no vaccines and no known cure for it, meaning that treatment consists solely of attempting to relieve the symptoms.

A passenger is thought to have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina and eventually infected others on board as it sailed across the Atlantic.

Three evacuees were whisked away from the ship on Wednesday and a fourth landed on Thursday in Amsterdam, said the vessel's operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions.

"No symptomatic individuals are present on board" the ship at the moment, as it sails toward the Spanish island of Tenerife, it said in a statement.

Two people who returned to the UK from the ship have been advised to self-isolate, the UK Health Security Agency said, adding they were asymptomatic and insisting the risk to the public was "very low".

Officials in Argentina said they planned to test rodents in the coastal city of Ushuaia, from where the ship had set sail on Apr 1.

Edited May 8 by SGCM928

[Windwaver]