The eastern region of China reported the discovery of a new infectious virus known as Langya heipavirus (LayV) that can spread between animals and humans.
It is even more worrying when there is a report source saying that a total of 35 people in Shandong and Henan provinces, China have been infected with the virus.
According to a statement published by the New England Journal of Medicine on August 4, Langya was first identified in a throat swab sample from a patient.
It is understood that 26 of the 35 patients experienced symptoms of fever, fatigue, cough, headache, nausea, vomiting and muscle pain and most of them were identified as farmers.
Follow-up studies also found that wild small mammals are the main carriers of the Langya virus based on a finding that such animals may be the 'natural habitat of the virus'.
Even so, people do not need to worry because so far there has been no discovery of human-to-human infection.
Summary of Langya, it is in the neus henipavirus which is under the same family as Hendra virus and Nipah virus.
For information, these types of viruses are known to infect humans and bring deadly diseases.
For example, the Nipah virus which is carried by several types of fruit bats and pigs where it can be transmitted directly from human to human as well as through contaminated fruit.
But, China Global Times insists that the Langya henipavirus case so far has not been fatal or can be categorized as serious.
Even so, Professor Wang Linfa from the Emerging Infectious Diseases Program of the Duke-NUS Singapore School of Medicine advises the public to continue to be aware of the virus and those that will emerge.
