Doctors have raised the alarm over a brand new virus that has infected dozens of people in China. ‘Langya’ henipavirus — or LayV — was detected in 35 people in the country’s eastern Henan and Shandong provinces. It belongs to a family of viruses that are known to kill up to three-quarters of humans in severe cases.
None of the new cases have resulted in death and most are mild, with patients experiencing flu-like symptoms. The novel virus is thought to have been passed on by shrews — small mammals from the same family as hedgehogs and moles.
A study published last revealed the virus was first detected in humans in 2019, with the most recent cases this year. Chinese experts investigating the virus believe human cases are ‘sporadic’. They are still trying to work out if it can spread from person to person.
Researchers led by the Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology published their findings on the virus, also known as LayV, in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. They spotted the first case before January 2019 in Shandong, before a cluster of 14 cases were found over the following year in both provinces.
No infections were found during the first year of the pandemic in January to July in 2020, with researchers pausing work to prevent the spread of Covid. But 11 more were found from that month onwards. Researchers tracked symptoms in patients to see how badly people were affected by the virus.
The most common symptom suffered by Langya patients was fever, with all people infected coming down with a temperature. It was followed by fatigue (54 percent), cough (50 percent), loss of appetite (50 percent), muscle aches (46 percent), and feeling queasy (38 percent). Around 35 percent suffered liver problems while 8 percent saw a fall in kidney function.
