Donald G. McNeil, Jr.
The New York Times
06/17/2010
There is too little genetic surveillance of last year’s human pandemic flu, which has gone on to infect pigs in China and is readily mixing with other flus there, according to a study released Thursday by researchers in Hong Kong.
No dangerous new strain has emerged, said several experts who saw the study. But in January the researchers found a new strain with one of the pandemic flu’s surface proteins — the outer spikes and knobs it uses to attach to cells. That was a reminder of how easily another swine strain capable of spreading among people could emerge.
“Just because we’ve just had a pandemic does not mean we’ve decreased our chances of having another,” said Dr. Carolyn B. Bridges, an epidemiologist in the flu division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We have to stay vigilant.”
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