Business

Outbreak of new virus reported in China — Analysis

Taiwan has been preparing for the possibility of spreading a deadly and novel henipavirus from animals to human beings

China’s 35 most vulnerable people have contracted a novel form of henipavirus, which apparently spreads to animals from humans. This has triggered alarm bells in Taiwan about a potentially deadly pathogen.

Taiwanese laboratories will need to establish standardized testing procedures to identify the Langya henipavirus (LayV), Chuang Jen-hsiang, deputy director of Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), told reporters on Sunday. According to Chuang Jen-hsiang, Genome Sequencing of the virus will be done in approximately one week.

Chuang made his comments three days after the New England Journal of Medicine posted a study on the newly discovered virus, which was detected in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces. High fevers were common in all affected patients. More than half also suffered from fatigue, loss appetite, coughing and low white blood cell count.


Deadlier than Covid-19, but less contagious: What we know about Nipah bat-borne virus threatening to become new scourge in India

Over one third of the patients had suffered from liver disease, while 8% experienced kidney damage. LayV, an RNA virus that causes negative-stranded RNA infections in the Paramyxoviridae famiy of viruses, was identified as part of this study. “fatal disease.”The emergence of the Covid-19 virus is occurring as world health authorities continue to battle the Covid-19 pandemic which had reportedly claimed more than 6.4 million lives.

It’s not yet known whether the pathogen can spread from human to human, according to researchers. Tests on affected animals revealed that approximately 5% of dogs had contracted the disease, and just 2% of goats. LayV could be a major carrier in shrews, as 27% of them tested positive.

Chuang stated that none of the infected people had been in close contact or shared an exposure history. The virus was not transmitted to family members and other people by contact trace.

Chuang stated that the Taiwanese CDC would work closely with agricultural regulators in order to determine if similar pathogens are present in native species to Taiwan’s self-governing islands. The Chinese outbreak hasn’t caused any deaths so far, he added.

LEARN MORE
Omicron Covid strain evolved in mice – Chinese study

Chinese scientists discovered Mojiang paramyxovirus (MojV) in 2013, a new henipavirus. The virus was found in infected rats living in Yunnan’s abandoned copper mine. Trois men, who were working in the mine at the time, developed severe pneumonia. Their deaths occurred long before the scientists arrived, and therefore no connection with MojV could be established.

Share this story via social media

[ad_2]

Tags

Related Articles

Back to top button