China: 35 infected by Langya virus; all you need to know

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has not been declared over and cases of the monkeypox virus have been increasing in several parts of the world, a newly identified virus in China has left health officials concerned. Identified as the Langya henipavirus (LayV), the disease has infected 35 people in China so far, as per reports. The virus was found in throat samples from febrile patients in the country’s Henan and Shandong provinces. The Langya virus is believed to have been passed on by shrews, small mammals which belong to the same family as hedgehogs. Chinese researchers have found the Langya virus in 71 out of 262 shrews they tested. The virus was also detected in dogs and goats in the two provinces.

Symptoms:

Some of the patients reported symptoms like fever, muscle pain, nausea, loss of appetite, headache, fatigue, cough and vomiting. Patients have also shown a fall in white blood cells and low platelet count. Liver and kidney failure have also been reported in some people.

Most of the patients have reported mild flu-like symptoms till now. No fatalities have been reported.

Till now, data is not available on if the disease is transmissible from human-to-human. Till date, no vaccine has been developed for the Langya virus. Experts believe that supportive care to manage complications is currently the best option.

Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are currently involved in establishing a nucleic acid testing method to identify and prevent the spread of the virus.

When was the Langya virus first detected?

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine titled "A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China", which was published on Thursday, said that a new henipavirus was discovered in China. Most of the infected patients were farmers. According to a report in the Daily Mail, the virus was first detected in 2019. However, the majority of the cases have been discovered recently.

The Langya virus belongs to the same family as the deadly Nipah virus. It belongs to a family of viruses that can kill up to three-quarters of humans in case of severe infections.

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