All about Langya henipavirus that has infected 35 people in China

China has reported 35 cases of a novel Langya henipavirus that likely spread from animals to humans and can cause renal and liver failure, Taiwan’s Taipei Times has said.

The report quoting Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said an investigation identified 35 patients with acute Langya henipavirus infection in Shandong and Henan provinces. Twenty-six of them were infected with the Langya virus only, with no other pathogens found in their bodies.

Bat-borne henipaviruses have been associated with rising cases of zoonotic diseases in Asia and Australia, according to medical journals. Nipah virus belongs to the same family

According to the Taipei Times, the study “A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China”, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 4, said a new henipavirus associated with a fever-causing human illness was identified in China.

A zoonosis, or a zoonotic disease, is an infection that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans. Zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral or parasitic, or may involve unconventional agents and can spread to humans through direct contact or through food, water or the environment, WHO says.

CDC deputy director-general Chuang Jen-hsiang said human-to-human transmission of the virus had not been reported but they were yet to determine whether it could be transmitted among humans, ANI reported

Chuang said the 35 patients did not have close contact with each other or a common exposure history. Contact tracing showed no viral transmission among close contacts and family, suggesting that human infections might be sporadic, the report said.

Symptoms

According to a DNA report, 26 patients developed symptoms including fever, fatigue, a cough, loss of appetite, muscle pain, nausea, headache, and vomiting.

They also showed a drop in white blood cells, low platelet count and liver and kidney failures.

Chuang said on August 7 a serological survey of domestic animals found that 2 percent of the tested goats and 5 percent of the tested dogs positive for the virus, Taipei Times said.

The test results of 25 wild animal species suggest that the shrew (a small insectivorous mammal resembling a mouse) might be a natural reservoir of the Langya henipavirus, as the virus was found in 27 percent of the shrew subjects, the CDC Deputy DG said.

As the Langya virus is a newly detected virus, Taiwan’s laboratories will need to establish a standardised nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus, so that human infections could be monitored, if needed, Chuang added.