China: According to Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Langya henipavirus, which can spread from animals to humans, has been found in China, where 35 human infections have been reported so far. The country also announced that it would develop a nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus.
The New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday last week, released a paper titled “A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China” that reported the discovery of a brand-new henipavirus linked to a fever-producing human ailment in China. According to the report, an inquiry found 35 individuals in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces with acute Langya henipavirus infection, and 26 of them had only the Langya virus and no other diseases.
In response to a question seeking confirmation, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-Hsiang stated on Sunday that the study indicated no cases of the virus being transmitted from person to person and that a serological examination of domestic animals revealed 2% of the tested goats and 5% of the tested dogs to be positive. As per test results from 25 species of wild animals, the shrew( a small insectivorous mammal resembling a mouse) may act as a natural reservoir for the Langya henipavirus because it was detected in 27% of the shrew participants.
According to Chuang, none of the 35 patients in China was in close contact with one another or shared a history of exposure, and contact tracing revealed no viral transmission among close relatives and contacts, indicating that human infections may be rare.
People should pay special attention to future updates regarding the virus, he added, as the CDC has not yet determined whether it can be passed from humans to humans.
The 26 patients developed symptoms including fever, fatigue, a cough, loss of appetite, muscle pain, nausea, headache and vomiting. They also showed a decrease in white blood cells. low platelet count, liver failure and kidney failure.