China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said Saturday that a strain of swine flu known as "G4" is not new and does not infect or ill people or animals easily, contrary to a study published last week.
And that previous study, conducted by a team of Chinese scientists and published in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" of America, had warned that a new swine flu virus, known as (G4), had become more contagious to humans and could turn into a "pandemic virus." However, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that the media approached the study "in an overrated and non-factual manner."
An analysis conducted by the ministry concluded that the sampling process in the published study was small enough to prevent it from being representative of reality, while the research paper lacks sufficient evidence to show that (G4) has become the predominant strain of the virus among pigs.
The ministry said it had reached its results after holding a symposium on the effect of the G4 virus on the pig breeding and public health sector. Among the participants were Chinese veterinarians and anti-virus experts, along with leading researchers in the study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The statement said that the participants agreed that the G4 virus is not new. Rather, this strain is subject to continuous monitoring by the World Health Organization and relevant Chinese agencies since 2011, the statement quoted a senior WHO official as saying.
Moreover, the statement stated that the study authors agreed that the G4 virus does not reproduce in an effective manner in the human body, causing it to become ill.