Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms 35 human infections of the novel Langya Henipavirus in China's Shandong and Henan provinces. The CDC told Taipei Times that they would begin to establish nucleic acid testing, track close contacts of patients, and conduct genome sequencing.
Health officials in China are now monitoring the transmission of this novel zoonotic virus that has infected dozens of people, despite having no known close contact.
Langya Henipavirus in China
A study titled "A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China," published in the New England Journal of Medicine, reports a new henipavirus linked to the fever-causing illness reported in China.
The researchers of the study investigated 35 patients that have acute Langya henipavirus in Shandong and Henan provinces, of which 26 were infected with Lanya virus only and no other pathogens.
All 26 patients experienced fever, 54% reported fatigue, 50% had a cough, 50% experienced a loss of appetite, 46% also had muscle pain, 38% complained of nausea, and 35% had headaches and vomiting. More so, 54% showed a decrease in white blood cells, while 35% had low platelet count, 35 had liver failure, and 8% had kidney failure.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-Hsiang told the news outlet that the human-to-human transmission of the virus had not been reported, but 2% of the tested goats and 5% of tested dogs were positive. Meanwhile, test results from 25 wild animals show that the shrew could be a natural reservoir of the Langya henipavirus after 27% of them tested positive for the virus.
The 35 patients under study did not have close contact with each other or had any common exposure history. Contact tracing shows no viral transmission among their immediate contacts and family, which could mean that human infections could be sporadic.
But the CDC still reminds the public to pay close attention to further updates about the Langya henipavirus as they continue to determine whether it can be transmitted among humans.
What We Know So Far About Langya Henipavirus
Langya henipavirus is a zoonotic virus that belongs to the henipavirus family, which includes the Hendra virus and Nipah virus. The World Health Organisation reports that this family of viruses has a fatality rate of 75%, which makes it higher than coronavirus.
Wang Xinyu, the Deputy Chief Physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases of Huashan Hospital, warns that the world needs to be prepared for future pandemics similar to COVID-19. He told the Global Times that the coronavirus would not be the last infectious disease to cause a pandemic worldwide as new diseases are increasingly affecting the impact of daily human life.
Taiwanese CDC Deputy Director Chuang Jen-Hsiang noted that the agency is working on establishing a nucleic acid to test for the genome sequence of the virus and will work closely with the Chinese Council of Agriculture to identify whether other viruses are found in species native to Shandong and Henan.
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