A new swine flu strain with 'pandemic potential' was just found circulating in Chinese pigs

REUTERS/Stringer

• A study reports the discovery of a new strain of influenza in pigs in Chinese slaughterhouses.
• The new strain is a combination of a bird flu and the virus that caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic — which gives it "pandemic potential" in humans, the researchers wrote.
• This flu hasn't been seen in humans yet, but the researchers believe such a jump is possible.
• Pigs can be reservoirs for new flu strains.
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A nearly decade-long study of Chinese pigs has found a potentially dangerous new type of influenza virus.

The research, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes a flu strain that shares genes with the one that caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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