Experts have warned of a new strain of flu that has the potential to become the next global pandemic if it is not closely monitored.
Scientists in China have discovered the virus G4 that is said to be similar to that of Swine Flu - which spread globally in 2009, reports the Mirror.
The strain causes respiratory illness and is carried among populations of pigs.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, experts are concerned that the virus could mutate beyond that and affect humans.
They claim that it has “all the hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus” if it is not managed.
Similarly, animal-borne Covid-19 is believed to have originated at a 'wet market' selling wildlife for consumption in Wuhan, before the virus spread around the world.
They researchers also found evidence of recent infection with the new influenza virus originating with people who worked in abattoirs and the swine farming industry in China.
The virus is termed as a G4 genotype, which the researchers said had become predominant in swine populations since 2016.
The researchers urged "urgent" monitoring of pigs and people who came into contact with the new influenza strain.
Following the Swine Flu outbreak of 2009, that virus (called A/H1N1pdm09) is now covered by the annual flu vaccine.
Immunity and vaccines against seasonal influenza that are already common among human populations do not appear to protect people from the new G4 virus, the study warned.
Prof Kin-Chow Chang, who works at Nottingham University in the UK, told the BBC : "Right now we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses.”
While this new virus is not an immediate problem, he added: "We should not ignore it".
Cambridge University Veterinary Medicine department head Prof James Wood said the latest virus showed pathogens originating with farmed animals - with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife - could trigger future pandemics.
