New ‘pandemic virus’ in China raises alarm

nBEIJING: New research in China has revealed a variant of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published in US science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

The new influenza variant has been named G4 and is genetically linked and descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic that killed thousands in 2009. It possesses “all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans,” said the authors, who are scientists at Chinese universities and at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“The virus is a unique blend of three lineages: one similar to strains found in European and Asian birds, the H1N1 strain that caused the 2009 pandemic, and a North American H1N1 that has genes from avian, human, and pig influenza viruses,” the American Association for the Advances of Sciences (AAAS) said in a report on the findings.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China was closely following developments.

The WHO will read the Chinese study carefully, spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a Geneva briefing on Tuesday, saying it was important to collaborate on findings and keep tabs on animal populations.

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Two terrorists were killed in a gunbattle with security forces at Waghama in Jammu & Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday, four days after they fired at a CRPF patrol and left a trooper and an 8-yearold boy dead, a top police officer said.