White House coronavirus advisor Dr Anthony Fauci says a new strain of flu carried by pigs in China has characteristics of the 2009 H1N1 virus and 1918 pandemic flu.
He said that the virus known by the name of “G4 EA H1N1,” has not yet shown that it can infect humans however it is displaying “reassortment capabilities,” Fauci said.
“When you get a brand new virus that turns out to be a pandemic virus it’s either due to mutations and/or the reassortment or exchanges of genes,” he said.
“And they’re seeing virus in swine, in pigs now, that have characteristics of the 2009 H1N1, of the original 1918, which many of our flu viruses have remnants of that in it, as well as segments from other hosts, like swine.”
Earlier in the month, Fauci said COVID-19 has turned his worst nightmare into a reality and continues to rapidly spread around the world.
Currently, the virus has infected more than 10.4 million people around the world killing more than half a million.
