The virus, named Langya henipavirus, has infected nearly 40 farmers and other residents, according to a team of scientists who believe it may have been spread directly or indirectly to humans by the fly, a small mole-like mammal found in a wide variety of habitats .
Increased vigilance is required for new virus which was traced to dozens of people in the east Chinawhich may not cause the next pandemic, but suggests how easily viruses can travel undetected from animals to humans, scientists say.
The virus, named Langya henipavirus, infected nearly 40 farmers and other residents, according to a team of scientists who believe it may have been spread directly or indirectly to humans by the midge, a small mole-like mammal found in a wide variety of habitats.
The pathogen caused no deaths but was detected in unrelated hospital patients in Shandong and Henan provinces between 2018 and 2021, the scientists said, a finding consistent with long-standing warnings from experts that viruses transmitted from humans to animals, often spread undetected to people around the world.
“We greatly underestimate the number of these zoonotic cases in the world and this (Langya virus) is only the tip of the iceberg”said virologist Leo Poon, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health.
THE first scientific research on the viruspublished as correspondence by a team of Chinese and international researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, has garnered global attention amid heightened concern about outbreaks.
However, researchers say there is no evidence that the Langya virus is spreading between people or that it has caused a local outbreak of linked cases. More study is needed in a larger subset of patients to rule out human-to-human spread.
Infectious disease scientist Linfa Wang, who participated in the research team told the CNN that although the new virus was unlikely to develop into “another disease X event,” where a previously unknown pathogen triggers an epidemic or pandemic; “But it turns out that such zoonotic spillover events happen more often than we think or know.”
How the new virus was detected
The first indications of the presence of a new virus emerged when a 53-year-old farmer sought treatment at a hospital in Qingdao city, Shandong province in December 2018 with symptoms including fever, headache, cough and nausea. When the patient’s samples were examined, the scientists found something unexpected, a never-before-seen virus related to the Hendra and Nipah viruses, extremely deadly pathogens from a family not known for easy human-to-human transmission.
In the following months, researchers at all three hospitals screened patients with similar symptoms for the virus, eventually finding it in 35 people who had a range of symptoms including cough, fatigue, headache and nausea, in addition to fever. Nine of these patients were also infected with a known virus, such as influenza, so the source of their symptoms was unclear, but the researchers believe that the symptoms in the remaining 26 could have been caused by the new henipa virus.
Some developed severe symptoms such as pneumonia or thrombocytopenia, a platelet disorder, but their symptoms were very different to Hendra or Nipah patients, and no one in the group died or was admitted to the ICU. Although all recovered, they were not being monitored for long-term problems, he added.
Of the group of 26, all but four were farmers, and while some were flagged by the same hospital as the original case, many others were found in Xinyang, more than 700km away. Because similar viruses are known to circulate in animals from southwest China to South Korea, it was not surprising to see transmission to humans over such long distances, the scientists explained. The cases were sporadic, but more research was needed, they said.
Once they realized that a new virus was infecting people, the researchers began investigations to find out what was infecting the patients. They checked domesticated animals for traces of previous infection with the virus and found a small number of goats and dogs that may have had the virus in the past. But the real breakthrough came when they tested samples taken from small wild animals that were captured and found 71 infections in two species of midges, small rodent-like mammals that could solve the mystery with the new virus.
Further studies on the control of henipa Langya virus will follow and should be conducted not only in the two provinces where the virus was found, but more widely within and outside China.
Risk reduction
Globally, 70% of emerging infectious diseases are believed to have passed to humans through contact with animals, a phenomenon scientists say has accelerated as growing human populations expand into wildlife habitats.
China has seen major outbreaks of emerging viruses over the past two decades, including SARS in 2002-2003 and Covid-19, both of which were first detected in the country and from viruses believed to have originated in bats. The devastating effects of both diseases, especially Covid-19 which has so far killed more than 6.4 million people worldwide, demonstrate the importance of quickly identifying cases of new viruses and sharing information about potential risks.
The scientists stress that more work is needed to understand the Langya virus and confirm the latest findings, and said the discovery underscores the importance of monitoring viruses that may be transmitted from animals to humans.
“Because this new virus may not be circulating only in China, it is important to share this information and allow others to prepare or do some further research in their own countries.”Poon said in Hong Kong.
Experts say critical questions remain to be answered about how widespread the new virus may be in nature, how it spreads to humans and how dangerous it is to human health, including whether it can spread between humans or acquire the ability to if it continues to jump from animals to humans.
The geographic range where the infections were found “suggests that the risk of infection is rather widespread”said virologist Malik Peiris, also from the University of Hong Kong, adding that studies elsewhere in China and neighboring countries were important to ascertain the geographic range of this virus in animals and humans.
He also said the latest findings hint at the large number of undetected infections transmitted from wildlife to humans. “This is important so we don’t get caught up in the next pandemic, when not if it comes”he said.
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