Outbreak Alert! New Langya Virus infects 35 in China; Everything about it

At a time when the world is not done grappling with COVID-19 and Monkeypox virus, a brand new Zoonotic virus - Langya virus - has emerged in China, infecting 35 people by August 10, 2022.

As per the experts, the human infections of Langya henipavirus (LayV) might be 'sporadic' as there is no evidence of the infected people coming in close contact with each other or having a common source of infection. All the infected people belong to Henan and Shandong provinces in eastern China.

Currently, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is trying to develop a nucleic acid testing method to accurately trace the spread of the newly detected deadly virus. The virus was detected through the throat samples from the febrile patients.

The Langya henipavirus can transmit from animals to humans. As of now, no case of human-to-human transmission has been reported but CDC has recommended people to keep looking for updates about the virus.

A recently concluded serological survey conducted on domestic animals has shown that about two percent of tested goats and five percent of tested dogs were found to be infected with the virus.

The test on 25 wild animal species defined that the shrew, which is a small insectivorous mammal that looks like a mouse, seems to be a natural reservoir of the virus, as a total of 27 percent shrews turned out to be infected with Langya Henipavirus.

Langya virus generally presents itself with flu-like symptoms. Have a look:

• Fever
• Cough
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Vomiting
• Loss of appetite

Some of the patients may also experience symptoms like decreased white blood cells, drop in platelet count, liver failure and kidney failure.

Langya virus belongs to the family of deadly nipah virus which is particularly found in bats. As already known, nipah virus also travels from person to person through respiratory droplets, just like Coronavirus infection, but is way more deadly. It kills up to 3-quarters of humans.

The freshly detected Langya virus cases, however, are showing mild flu-like symptoms and do not seem to be in a life threatening situation.

The experts believe that the virus may still prove to be deadly as there are no vaccines or treatment methods available to combat it. The only way of treating this infection is supportive care aimed at managing the symptoms and complications arising because of it.

Moreover, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed Nipah virus to be the biggest threat of the next pandemic.

Experts have identified two species of the Henipavirus - Hendra Virus and Nipah Virus. Hendra virus was first found in a Brisbane suburb, while both the species are known to cause critical infections, sometimes fatal.

WHO has also classified Henipavirus as a biosafety Level 4 threat, with fatality rate ranging between 40 percent and 75 percent.

Fortunately, there have been no deaths due to LayV.

Langya virus is still within China and has only produced mild to moderate symptoms, but experts believe that the sample size is too low to underestimate the severity of its infection. Moreover, experts have also suggested that human to human transmission of the virus may be possible in future. Hence, it is better to follow all the precautionary measures to prevent the infection.