Langya henipavirus is a new zoonotic infection that infected 35 persons in China. Is it worth it to panic? If it starts to spread among the population.


 The new virus, according to researchers, could be transmitted by the shrew, a small, rat-like creature.


People have been on high alert about viruses transferred from animals to humans since the beginning of the COVID outbreak.


And it's for good reason: zoonotic viruses are on the rise. Researchers from the Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in early August that identified a new "henipavirus" that had been diagnosed in 35 patients between 2018 and 2021.

The disease, termed "Langya henipavirus," was most likely transmitted to humans by the shrew, a mouse-like creature.

The shrew is what scientists refer to as the reservoir host in this circumstance – the primary animal carrying the virus.

Patients complained of fever, tiredness, coughing, anorexia, myalgia, and nausea.


According to the two-page paper, the researchers found no evidence of human-to-human transmission, which indicates that, as far as we know, the only people who are truly in danger are those who come into regular and direct interaction with shrews.

Almost all of the affected patients were farmers from China's Shandong and Henan provinces.

"Unless you are in contact with the reservoir host or an intermediate animal host that is in contact with them, the threat is not large," added James Wood, head of the department of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge.


Zoonotic Diseases are Common

Zoonotic diseases are extremely widespread; scientists believe that more than 60% of known infectious diseases in humans can be transmitted by other animals, which causes 75% of new or developing infectious diseases in humans.

Many zoonotic illnesses cause minor infections, while others can be fatal.

The spread of zoonotic viruses has caused the majority of the world's large-scale outbreaks, including COVID, Ebola, MERS, and the Zika virus.

However, the lack of human-to-human transmission with Langya henipavirus indicates that it may not represent that kind of risk.

Close contacts of nine of the patients in China were tested and found to be negative for Langya henipavirus.


Is it possible for Henipaviruses to Travel from person to person?

None of the individual cases in the present study were linked in such a way that they may have infected each other.

However, the study's authors emphasized that nine patients are insufficient to fully rule out the possibility of human transmission.

It would be "extremely alarming" if the person-to-person transmission was observed, according to Jimmy Whitworth, an international public health expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

This is due to the genetic similarity of Langya henipavirus to another henipavirus, the deadly Mojiang henipavirus, which was found in China in 2012.


Miners' Mysterious Deaths in Mojiang

After three miners died mysteriously of pneumonia in China's Yunnan province, researchers collected anal swabs from bats, rats, and shrews scampering around the mine to try to figure out what had happened.

Three of the rats tested positive for a virus that was genetically similar to others in the henipavirus family but different enough to be categorized as its own virus, which scientists named the Mojiang henipavirus after the county where the miners had lived.

Mojiang and Langya viruses are both members of the henipavirus family, which also includes the lethal Nipah and Hendra viruses.

Humans can spread the Nipah virus, which has been found in wildlife in China. The Hendra virus has been observed in Australian wildlife in the past and cannot be transmitted from person to person.

Langya is related to the Nipah virus, which is fatal and can be passed from person to person.


Langya is related to the Nipah virus, which is deadly and can be transmitted from person to person.


More Research is always Needed.

According to Nikolaos Vasilakis, an emerging infectious disease expert at the University of Texas, the lack of human-to-human transmission and the sporadic character of the cases indicate that the general public is unlikely to be at risk.

However, Vasilakis stated that the data set is quite small and that further research and surveillance are required.

"If the sample size is increased, the results shown here may no longer be representative." We don't know. It is quite difficult to evaluate a small number of samples without knowing the real degree of the impact and presence in the human population "Vasilakis added.

Other zoonotic disease experts, such as James Roth, director of Iowa State University's center for food security and public health, agree.


"I'll keep an eye on it since it belongs to the henipavirus family, which is a really frightening family," Roth added. "They have a lot of potential in other animals, and it has the ability to spread to other species, including humans. Thus yet, there is no proof of this, and hopefully, it will remain so."


Viruses Adapt when they Infect New Species

Viruses adapt to different species when they infect them. Although the report demonstrates that the virus was most prevalent in shrews, Langya was also discovered in dogs and goats.

The concern now, according to Roth, is that some of the adaptations gained by infecting other species may allow the virus to adapt to humans. He predicted that the virus could acquire a mutation that would allow it to transmit between humans.

This may happen if the virus modified its attachment protein, which is the protein used by the virus to adhere to a cell in the body and infect it.


So far, how should the data be interpreted?

With the COVID pandemic and Monkeypox on the rise, you may be wondering how to understand such claims – and how to calculate your own personal risk. And, if there are so many zoonotic viruses, what makes this one unique?

The fact that Langya henipavirus is new makes it worth mentioning.


"Any detection of any of these new viruses in the human population is cause for concern," Vasilakis added. "Not all of them will spread to epidemic levels. However, the initial detection should always be done with prudence and warning."

Then scientists, doctors, legislators, and the rest of society may decide what actions to take next.