New Virus with Pandemic Potential Discovered in Chinese Slaughterhouses

Chinese researchers have found a swine flu virus, called G4, with pandemic potential in multiple Chinese slaughterhouses and a veterinary hospital. The researchers took 30,000 nasal swabs from pigs between 2011 and 2018. Consequently, 179 identified swine flu viruses were isolated. However, G4 has proven to be highly infectious, capable of replicating in human cells and able to cause more severe symptoms than other viruses.

At least 1 in 10 swine workers who participated in a new study has contracted the virus and 4.4% of the general population has been exposed to it. Scientists aren't too worried about the virus yet, as no evidence suggests that humans can infect other humans, but animals can pass the virus onto humans.

Regardless of scientists current lack of concern, the recent studies on G4 prove that factory farming is a breeding ground for dangerous viruses. In only 7 years, 179 separate infections emerged in 30,000 pigs. This is a lot of viruses for such a small sample and short time. This suggests that the meat industry is not only a massive environmental and climate threat. It is also a major public health emergency.