New Langya virus infected 35 people in China: What you need to know

Scientist detected 35 cases of Langya virus, a new henipavirus, over three years. No deaths or person to person transmission has been reported.

In December 2018, a 53-year-old woman showed up at a hospital in China with flu-like symptoms. She was infected with a henipavirus, a class that includes some dangerous pathogens like Nipah virus, which has a fatality rate of 40% to 75%. 

But the virus infecting the patient was genetically distinct from the other henipaviruses scientists had seen before. It came from a novel pathogen now known as Langya virus.

Scientists detected 34 more Langya cases across two eastern Chinese provinces through 2021, according to findings published last week by a research team in China, Singapore and Australia. None of the patients died.

Because of that, scientists aren't yet alarmed. There’s also no sign of human-to-human transmission; the patients who were studied didn’t seem to spread the virus to close contacts, nor did they have histories of common exposures. So Langya appears to be causing infrequent, sporadic infections, and it is most likely passed from animals to people.

Most patients had close contact with animals before they got sick, according to Zhu Feng and Tan Chee Wah, research fellows at Duke–National University of Singapore Medical School who coauthored the paper.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/new-langya-virus-china-scientists-arent-alarmed-rcna42435

---