One study, Joachim. One study.
It's a hypothesis that oversimplifies the source of viral mutations but doesn't give any supporting evidence that such mutations only happen in Asia.
That's not how science works. Instead, a hypothesis can come from anywhere. Studies are then conducted to see whether the hypothesis can hold up.
And thus far, I haven't seen any evidence that proves seasonal flu originates in Asia.
Indeed, many headliners such as H1N1 "swine flu" actually originated outside of Asia:
2009 swine flu pandemic - Wikipedia
Analysis of the genetic divergence of the virus in samples from different cases indicated that the virus jumped to humans in 2008, probably after June, and not later than the end of November,[39] likely around September 2008.[4][5] The research also indicated the virus had been latent in pigs for several months prior to the outbreak, suggesting a need to increase agricultural surveillance to prevent future outbreaks.[40] In 2009, U.S. agricultural officials speculated, although emphasizing that there was no way to prove their hypothesis, that "contrary to the popular assumption that the new swine flu pandemic arose on factory farms in Mexico, [the virus] most likely emerged in pigs in Asia, but then traveled to North America in a human."[41] However, a subsequent report[42] by researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2016 found that the 2009 H1N1 virus likely originated from pigs in a very small region of central Mexico.[43] |
