New Langya virus found in China infects 35 people, can impair liver & kidney

The newly identified Langya virus, which has infected over three dozen people in China, belongs to the family of deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses, experts pointed out, however, it is still to be known whether the pathogen can be transmitted from person-to-person.

The Langya henipavirus or LayV was first detected when a group of people, who were exposed to animals in eastern China region, developed fever and got themselves tested. Most of the patients were farmers.

The patients complained of fever, fatigue, cough, anorexia, myalgia, nausea, headache, and vomiting, accompanied by abnormalities of thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and impaired liver and kidney function.

Among the 35 patients, 26 were infected only with LayV, according to a report published in the New



England Journal of Medicine. There was no evidence they had been in close contact or had a common exposure history, suggesting human infection may be sporadic, the researchers said. Tests detected the virus in 27% of shrews, a known vector for similar henipaviruses, suggesting the small, furry mole-like mammals may be a natural reservoir, they said.

Speaking about whether human-to-human transmission is possible, the article cited, There was no close contact or common exposure history among the patients, which suggests that the infection in the human population may be sporadic. 

“Contact tracing of 9 patients with 15 close-contact family members revealed no close-contact LayV transmission, but our sample size was too small to determine the status of human-to-human transmission for LayV."