Even after we went through — and are still going through — the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19 and the outbreak of monkeypox, the global public health state remains at risk with another pathological agent. We are talking about the new virus Langya henipavirus (LayV) that infected at least 35 people in China between 2018 and 2021, being reported in the scientific vehicle The New England Journal of Medicine just now. Understand more about the news. 3tts
What we know about Langya henipavirus (LayV) m17e
Among the cases described in The New England Journal of Medicine, 26 of them had their details analyzed, and the following symptoms were pointed out:
- 54% – fatigue;
- 50% - cough
- 35% – headache;
- 35% – vomiting.
There were still reports of liver abnormalities in 35% of patients and kidney abnormalities in 8% of them. Despite all the symptom data, no case of eventual death has yet been reported. Transmission was also not indicated as person-to-person , possibly the infection is of animal origin. Studies show that the shrew — a species of small rodent similar to a mouse — is a natural reservoir of the virus, but without confirmation so far.
Experts say that despite the detection of this new virus, there is no potency to cause a new pandemic. This does not mean that there can be carelessness, since other pathogens of the Henipavirus group have already caused serious infections and outbreaks in regions such as Oceania e Asia, mainly the hendra henipavirus (HeV) and also the Nipah henipavirus (NiV), considered similar to LayV.
What was observed does not characterize a hot spot ("focus of transmissions", in free translation) as it was with the coronavirus - in which the virus was found and soon began to spread throughout the region very quickly. The new virus also did not show efficient human-to-human transmission very quickly. But as a pathogenic virus (which causes disease), it is necessary to be attentive and monitor new cases.
Jansen de Araujo, virologist, professor and researcher at the Research Laboratory on Emerging Viruses at the University of São Paulo (USP)
It is not very easy to relate the death rate of the coronavirus, the current pandemic, with the infections caused by the virus. Langya henipavirus, as there are factors such as period and country numbers that are not equivalent. The viruses Nipah e hendra already have a lethality level not only similar but even higher, in these places, than the coronavirus itself.
It is important to note that even in the publication made in the New England Journal of Medicine, it was revealed that the Langya henipavirus infected patients residing in the provinces Henan e Shandong. There were no reports that they had with each other or any kind of history of being in the same places. The researchers even performed a procedure of tracking nine of these patients and their relatives to confirm if there was any indication of infection from person to person – but the result was negative.
Langya henipavirus and Brazil 5q2851
present in the project National Network for Virus Surveillance in Wild Animals (prevent), Jansen de Araujo has been looking for years for the presence of Henipavirus in Brazil. In 2017, the virologist and some colleagues published an article that contained evidence in bats found in Brazil that could also be natural reservoirs of Nipah, but there was no scientific confirmation. Not only from Nipah, the researcher also claims that cases of Hendra infection were not identified in the country either.
Another specialist in the area, the veterinary doctor Michele Lunardi, PhD in animal virology, also published, together with other colleagues, an article reviewing studies on Henipavirus in 2021, confirming the lethality of NiV and HeV. For BBC News Brazil, the doctor says that the scientists responsible for identifying the Langya henipavirus in China it happened from a routine monitoring in cases of fever, an action described as fundamental by the professional to prevent this and other diseases from spreading.
Febrile patients show up for care at selected hospitals in China and, when they report previous with animals, samples are collected for metagenomic analysis. They are powerful tools for identifying pathogens. This type of active surveillance with new (genetic) sequencing tools is very important, considering these infectious agents that are potentially zoonotic — that is, that are transmitted from animals to humans. We know that they have great potential to become new pandemic agents in the future.
Michele Lunardi, PhD in animal virology for BBC News Brazil
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