Warning alert from Catalonia: Suspected transmission of a swine flu variant to humans

The Spanish region of Catalonia has informed the World Health Organization of its suspicion of human-to-human transmission of a variant of the swine flu virus  (A1N1).

The Catalan health ministry said it considers the potential risk to the population from this to be “very low”.

She added that the infected person did not show respiratory symptoms similar to those of the flu , stressing that tests conducted on those who were in direct contact with him showed that the virus was not transmitted to them.

A previous report by the Spanish newspaper El País, citing sources in the Catalan Ministry of Health, stated that the patient – who has since recovered – had no contact with pigs or pig farms.

This led experts to conclude that  the infection was transmitted from person to person.

The matter raised alarm bells because of the potential for a swine flu pandemic if it were to combine with the human flu virus, according to the newspaper, which could happen if a pig were to be infected with both viruses at the same time.