'Don’t panic but stay alert'.
That is the advice from a top London scientist after the first confirmed human case of a new strain of swine flu in the UK.
The virus was only spotted when a patient in North Yorkshire went to their GP, after experiencing respiratory symptoms.
Dr Andrew Catchpole, chief scientific officer at infectious disease testing firm hVIVO, said that public health authorities would only be concerned if they discovered “sustained human to human transmission” of the virus.
The strain - called AH1N2 - was identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and genome sequencing, but it is not known how transmissible it is, or if there could be other cases in the UK.
Currently there are 50 reports of people having the virus across the world.
The patient in the UK is not known to have worked with pigs and has fully recovered.
Health officials are tracking down close contacts of the infected person and advised people with respiratory symptoms to avoid mixing with others.
In this episode of The Standard podcast, our Health Reporter Daniel Keane explains what we know about the first case of this new strain in a human.
Daniel also discusses why scientists are not too concerned about this strain as it stands, but also why they need to keep an eye on developments.
And as China makes the headlines for a ‘mystery’ respiratory illness recorded in the country, Daniel shares the latest on that situation.
Listen above, find us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you stream your podcasts.
