New fever-causing genipavirus identified in China

In China, 35 patients have been identified with a fever believed to be caused by a new virus that can be transmitted from shrews to humans. A study on the pathogen was published by scientists from Beijing and Singapore in early August in The New England Journal of Medicine.

During epidemic surveillance of patients with symptoms of fever in East China, the Langya henipavirus (LayV) virus was detected in a throat swab from one patient. "A subsequent investigation identified 35 patients with acute LayV infection in Shandong and Henan provinces, among whom 26 were infected with LayV alone and no other pathogens were present," the publication says.

These 26 patients experienced fever and chills (in 100% of cases), fatigue (54%), cough (50%), anorexia (50%), muscle pain (46%), nausea (38%), headache ( 35%), vomiting (35%), which was accompanied by a drop in the level of platelets in the blood (35%), leukopenia (decrease in the number of leukocytes - in 54% of cases), as well as impaired liver function (35%) and kidneys (8%). There were no deaths among those examined.

The surveyed did not contact each other, which made it possible to assume that these are so far isolated, unrelated cases. The researchers also did not identify cases of transmission of the virus from sick people to their family members, but they note that so far too little data has been collected to make final conclusions.

The LayV virus belongs to the same genus of henipaviruses as the potentially deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses, which are transmitted from animals to humans, the study says.

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Serological examination of animals revealed that antibodies to the virus were in a small percentage of goats and dogs, as well as in 76% of the examined shrews. "This suggests that shrews may be a natural reservoir for LayV," the publication says.

At the end of 2019, the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus was detected in China, which quickly spread outside the country and caused the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Johns Hopkins University, which monitors the situation with the infection, by August 8, 2022, 584 million cases of COVID-19 were detected in the world, and 6.4 million patients died.

At the end of July, WHO declared the spread of another disease, monkeypox, a situation of emergency. According to the organization, as of June 27, more than 16 thousand cases of the disease in 75 countries and five deaths were detected in the world.