Langya Virus China Detects New Virus found infected 35 People infected what is the Langya virus Health officials in China are monitoring the spread of a new virus that has been found in a few dozen people.
.png "Langya Virus China Detects New Virus found infected 35 People infected what is the Langya Virus?")
Langya Virus China Detects New Virus found infected 35 People infected what is the Langya Virus?
The Centers for Disease Control in Taiwan said on Sunday that it is monitoring new developments surrounding a new disease known as the Langya Virus (live), which was first detected in late 2018.
The center said 35 people in China have tested positive so far in recent weeks, according to Fox Taiwan.
The cases have been reported from Shandong and Henan provinces, which share a border and are located in northeast China. The CDC in Taiwan has pledged that it will start developing procedures for tracking the Langya Virus and sequencing its genome, the latter is expected to be ready within a week.
None of the 35 known patients had close contact with each other or were found to have a common point of exposure, indicating that the spread of the virus was sporadic in humans at this stage. The virus is also known to be present in some animals, such as shrews.
It is not known at this time whether the current spread of the virus is due to transmission from animals, but the Chinese authorities are still urging caution. The information is so early that it is also unclear whether the virus can be transmitted from person to person, although previous reports indicate that this is the case.
Officials also plan to work with the Agriculture Board to determine whether the virus is present in creatures native to Henan and Shandong.
Deputy director general of the Taiwan CDC Zhuang Jin-Hsiang explained that in all but nine documented cases, patients were infected only with the Langya virus.
What is the Langya Virus?
The Henipavirus family, to which this new strain belongs, is classified as Biosafety Level 4 viruses, according to WHO, and mortality rates can range from 40 to 75 percent. As noted by the Global Times, this is much higher than the common mortality rates of coronaviruses, the family of viruses to which covid-19 belongs.
There are currently no vaccines for hernia viruses. The only treatment that doctors and medical professionals can provide is supportive care for various symptoms.
Symptoms usually include a Langya Virus
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Cough
- Loss of appetite
- Muscle pain
- Nausea
- Headaches
- And vomiting
In more severe cases patients showed a decrease in white blood cells, a decrease in the number of platelets, and liver and kidney failure. No deaths have been reported so far.
What is known about the Langya Virus?
A study published earlier revealed that the Langya Virus was first seen in humans in 2019, with the majority of recent cases this year. Chinese experts are still trying to figure out whether the virus can spread from one person to another, according to a report by Mail Online.
In the research led by the Beijing Institute of microbiology and epidemiology, the researchers stated that no infections with the Langya virus were found during the first year of the epidemic between January and July 2020, as work to combat the spread of covid-19 was stopped.
However, 11 cases of Langya Virus infection were found from July 2020 onwards.
After tracking the symptoms of the virus in patients, the researchers found that fever is the most common. This was followed by coughing (50 percent), fatigue (54 percent), loss of appetite (50 percent), muscle pain (46 percent), and a tendency to vomit (38 percent).
Moreover, Chinese researchers found the virus in 71 of 262 Shrews - a small mole-like mammal-in Henan and Shandong provinces. The Mail Online report added that the virus was also detected in Dogs (5 percent) and goats (2 percent).
Understanding the severity of the Langya Virus
Language belongs to the same family as the deadly Nipah virus Which is usually found in bats. Nipah is also spread through respiratory droplets like covid-19 but is more dangerous because it kills up to three-quarters of humans. The World Health Organization has listed Nipah as the most likely to cause the next epidemic.