A new virus has been detected in eastern China which has infected at least several dozen people.

Scientists are tracking the novel animal-derived virus, Langya henipavirus (LayV), which was found in 35 patients in the Shandong and Henan provinces. LayV is a type of henipavirus, a category of zoonotic viruses which can move from animals to humans.

Many of the patients had symptoms such as fever, fatigue and a cough. They are thought to have contracted the virus from animals, although there is no evidence so far LayV can transmit among humans.

According to researchers, the virus is predominantly found in shrews – small mammals with cylindrical bodies, short and slender limbs. The discovery was highlighted in a letter written by researchers from China, Singapore and Australia and published in the New England Journal of Medicine this month. Other related henipaviruses have also been found in shrews, as well as bats and rodents.

One of the researchers, Wang Linfa from the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, stated that the cases of LayV found so far have not been fatal or very serious, so there is “no need to panic”. However, Mr Wang emphasized that there is still a need to be alert as many viruses that exist in nature have unpredictable results when they infect humans.

Escalation of zoonotic viruses globally

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control on Sunday August 7, 2022, stated that it was paying “close attention” to the development of LayV. Zoonotic viruses are very common but have attracted more attention since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that scientists estimate that three out of every four new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.

Prior to this, the United Nations had warned the world will witness more of such diseases with increased exploitation of wildlife and climate change. Some zoonotic viruses – which jump from animals to humans can be potentially fatal to humans. These include the Nipah virus which has periodic outbreaks among animals and humans in Asia, and the Hendra virus which was first detected in horses in Australia.

UN experts blame the rise in diseases such as Covid-19 on high demand for animal protein, unsustainable agricultural practices and climate change. Neglected zoonotic diseases are revealed to kill two million people a year.

Ebola, West Nile virus and Sars are also all zoonotic diseases which started in animals and transmitted to humans, although its transmission isn’t “automatic”. Per report by the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Livestock Research Institute, it iterated that zoonotic viruses are influenced by the degradation of the natural environment such as land degradation, wildlife exploitation, resource extraction and climate change. This, the institute explained, alters the way animals and humans interact.

Inger Andersen, under-secretary general and executive director of the UN Environment Programme, expressed that in the last century the world has “seen at least six major outbreaks of novel coronaviruses” and over the last two decades and before Covid-19, “zoonotic diseases caused economic damage of $100bn (£80bn)”.

“Two million people in low and middle-income countries die each year from neglected endemic zoonotic diseases such as anthrax, bovine tuberculosis and rabies”.
Inger Andersen