2018-22 China Langya virus outbreak | |
---|---|
Disease | Langya henipavirus |
Virus strain | LayV |
Source | Transmitted from shrews |
Location | China |
First outbreak | Shandong, China |
Date | 2018 – ongoing? |
Confirmed cases | 35 |
Deaths | 0 |
A possibly ongoing outbreak of Langya henipavirus (LayV) was reported in China in August 2022, with 35 identified cases spanning from 2018 to August 2022. [1] [2] The index case was a 53-year-old female farmer who had been in contact with shrews and presented with a fever, headache, cough and nausea in Qingdao city. [1] The virus was named "Langya" after the hometown of the index patient in Shandong. [3]
The virus does not appear to spread easily from person to person, [3] consistent with the 35 reported cases being apparently independent from one another. [1] In 26 of the 35 human cases reported in China, the only identified infectious agent was LayV; in the LayV-only cases, symptoms appeared such as fever, fatigue, and coughing. No deaths due to LayV had been reported as of August 2022.
LayV infection is a respiratory zoonotic disease which has been shown to be present in goats and dogs, where shrews appear to be a viral reservoir species. [3] LayV is closely related to Hendra virus and Nipah virus, both of which cause respiratory infections that can be fatal, and both of which show low person-to-person transmissibility. [3] The exact method of transmission between animals and from animal to person remains unknown. [3] The closest viral strain match to LayV is Mojiang henipavirus (MojV), discovered in 2012 in rats in southern China and responsible for several fatal respiratory infections. [3]
Initial detection of the virus was made during an infection surveillance study at three hospitals in Eastern China involving patients exhibiting a fever. [3] The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control said they would monitor the virus closely and establish a genome sequencing method to identify the virus. [4] [5]