According to research that appeared this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists are monitoring an animal-derived virus that is developing in eastern China and has been found in 35 humans.
The unique Langya henipavirus-caused illness has not yet resulted in any fatalities among those affected.
The primary symptoms that patients have shown include fever, exhaustion, coughing, and vomiting.
The Langya virus, also known as LayV, was most likely acquired straight from an animal, according to experts.
LayV is mostly present in shrews, according to a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers now hold the opinion that a virus cannot be passed from person to person.
As it belongs to the same family as the Nipah and Hendra viruses, the virus is still a worry, according to the experts.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, henipaviruses like Nipah and Hendra are known to cause serious sickness in people and animals, with mortality occurring in 40 to 70% of cases.
Scientists stressed in the paper how crucial it is to monitor the virus’s progress. Such illnesses may manifest in people in a variety of ways.
Although there is no immediate reason for concern, researchers described it as “a result that demands additional inquiry to better understand linked human sickness.”
Zoonotic viruses, or those transmitted from animals to people, are quite prevalent.
Three out of every four new or emerging infectious illnesses in humans, according to the CDC, are caused by animals.
According to a recent research that was just published in Nature Climate Change, 218 infectious illnesses are becoming more severe due to climate change.
An rise in infectious illnesses as a consequence of climate change was also predicted in a paper earlier this month that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.