2024-02-06 18:14:10
Updated Tuesday, February 6, 2024 – 19:14
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has reported that, last January 29the Spanish authorities reported a possible case of human infection with swine flu virus A(H1N1)v in a worker on a Catalan pig farm.
After being diagnosed with bronchitis, subsequent laboratory tests confirmed that it was swine flu. A(H1N1)v. The ECDC reports that the patient has fully recovered and, to date, no new cases have been detected among close contacts or among co-workers at the farm.
From Health They report the details of the case that they consider closed, since the patient is no longer being followed up. On January 10, the health authorities of Catalonia reported a case of swine flu in a 33-year-old man who works on a farm in the province of Lleida. The date of onset of symptoms was November 25, 2023. On December 12, a sample of nasal and oropharyngeal exudate was taken, which resulted positive for influenza A, but could not be subtyped.
It was sent to the regional reference laboratory of Catalonia and was identified as a swine influence virus. No secondary cases have been detected among close family contacts or among the nine farm workers. The case has evolved favorably. The sample was sent for confirmation to the National Institute of Microbiology and the virus has been isolated and shared with the WHO Collaborating Center.
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First case of swine flu in a human being confirmed in the United Kingdom
First case of swine flu in a human being confirmed in the United Kingdom
As explained by Mara Montoya, researcher in the Viral Immunology: Therapies and Vaccines group at the Margarita Salas Biological Research Center (CIB-CSIC), and reported by SMC, “cases of swine flu viruses that infect humans and vice versa are relatively frequent in people who have contact with infected animals. It should not be a social alarm as long as we are vigilant against possible new ‘recombinant’ viruses or new viruses with mutations. “That’s why it’s so important to be vigilant.”
In addition, Montoya details that “the risks for the community are the same as those of circulating flu viruses. The problem is when one of the swine or human viruses ‘recombine’ with another flu virus. “New viruses emerge from there, such as the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus.”
Regarding the fact that after almost a month the outbreak has been concluded, José Ignacio Nez and Llilianne Ganges, researchers at the Agri-Food Research and Technology Institute (IRTA), state that “not likely”. In a comment collected by SMC, the experts detail that “humans can sporadically become infected with swine influenza viruses that circulate in pig farms, but it is not common.”
Likewise, “personnel in contact with animals must maintain biosafety measures and it is recommended that they receive the flu vaccination, which reduces the probability of infection. On the other hand, the capacity for transmission from person to person is very small,” say the IRTA researchers.
History of viruses in animals that jump to humans
A different case was what happened with the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus. “This virus, which presented segments of avian, human and swine viruses, jumped to humans causing a pandemic. It was distributed globally and humans found it. “We have transmitted it to the pig population. In 2021, a scientific article was published by a group in China that had identified a virus circulating in pigs with pandemic potential, but since then no outbreak in humans has been reported,” comment experts from the IRTA.
In any case, it is essential know the viruses that are circulating in pig populations to analyze its genome. “At IRTA-CReSA we study the evolution of the swine influenza virus to analyze whether it is capable of escaping vaccination or how vaccination affects this evolution.”
“Thus we have corroborated that vaccination reduces the circulation of the virus, although it does not prevent its replication and, most importantly, that vaccination reduces the capacity of viruses to rearrange when coinfection with two different viruses occurs. This influenza virus reassortmentwhich is due to the fact that it has a segmented genome, is responsible, together with its genomic variability, for the difficulty of controlling influenza,” they emphasize.
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