Langya Henipavirus: What Is This New Zoonotic Virus Outbreak That Has Infected 35 People in China So Far?

The Langya henipavirus has been found in China's Shandong and Henan provinces and can be transmitted from animals to humans, reported Taipei Times.

Taipei/New Delhi: After coronavirus and monkeypox, another virus has made it to the news. Zoonotic Langya virus has been found in China with 35 human infections reported so far, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. It noted that Taipei would establish a nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus and monitor its spread, media reports stated. The Langya henipavirus has been found in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces and can be transmitted from animals to humans, reported Taipei Times.

Taiwan’s CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang on Sunday said that according to a study, human-to-human transmission of the virus has not been reported yet. However, he said that CDC has yet to determine whether the virus can be transmitted among humans and cautioned people to pay close attention to further updates about the virus.

Results of serological survey

Providing details of the serological survey conducted on domestic animals, he said that 2 per cent of the tested goats and 5 per cent of the tested dogs were positive. 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 per cent of the shrew subjects, the CDC Deputy DG said.

Effects and transmission of Langya Henipavirus

• According to the Taipei Times, the virus can cause renal and hepatic failure and most likely is transmitted from animals to humans.
• Chuang said the 35 patients in China did not have close contact with each other or a common exposure history, and contact tracing showed no viral transmission among close contacts and family, suggesting that human infections might be sporadic.

Signs and symptoms of Langya Henipavirus

• The 26 patients developed symptoms including fever, fatigue, a cough, loss of appetite, muscle pain, nausea, headache and vomiting.
• They also showed a decrease in white blood cells, low platelet count, liver failure and kidney failure.

Next course of action

Since Langya virus is a newly detected virus and therefore, Taiwan’s laboratories will require a standardized nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus, so that human infections could be monitored, if needed, Chuang added.

(With inputs from ANI)