What is Langya virus and what are its symptoms: Here's the full detail

Langya virus has affected at least 35 people in Henan and Shandong provinces of China. What is its origin? What are its symptoms? How to protect yourself from it? Know everything in detail.

In the past few years, different zoonotic viruses have been discovered in China. Recently, the South Asian superpower got affected by 35 infections in the country's two eastern provinces: Shandong and Henan. The new type of Henipavirus is also quoted as Langya Henipavirus or the LayV.

Henipaviruses can cause severe illness in animals and humans, and currently, there are no licensed drugs or vaccines meant for humans. Hence, it is slightly incurable.

Also read | New zoonotic virus hits China, 35 people infected, says report

What is the Langya virus?

The distinct Henipavirus named Langya transmits from animals to humans, so it is not as contagious as coronavirus. As of now, there's no reported human-to-human transmission.

However, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has not determined the contagiousness or whether the virus can transmit among humans. But, they have warned people to pay close attention to further updates about the virus.

According to a serological survey on domesticated animals, it was seen that 2 per cent of the tested goats and 5 per cent of the tested dogs were positive. The test results of 25 wild animal species indicated that the shrew might be a natural reservoir of the Langya henipavirus. The virus was found in 27 per cent of the shrew subjects, the Deputy DG of CDC stated.

How was the Langya virus discovered?

As believed, Langya was discovered in eastern China during surveillance testing of fever-affected patients with a recent history of animal exposure. Later, it was identified and isolated from the swab sample of one of those patients. According to the New English Journal of Medicine study, 35 people with Langyavirus were found in Shandon and Henan provinces, out of 26 were only infected with this new virus and no other pathogen.

What are the symptoms of the Langya virus?

The study observed 26 patients with only LayV infection to identify the related symptoms. While all 26 per cent had a fever, 54% reported fatigue, 50% complained of cough and 38% were affected by nostalgia.

Besides 35% of the 26 patients, complained of headaches and vomiting. The investigation found that 35% had impaired liver function, while 8% had affected kidney function. Further, the patients were accompanied by abnormalities of leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and kidney and liver dysfunction.

Thrombocytopenia is low platelet count, whereas leukopenia means a fall in the white blood cell count, in turn decreasing the body’s immunity or disease-fighting capability 

Where has the Langya virus come from?

The origin of the Langyavirus is still unclear. However, it is likely transmitted from animal to human. Since the LayV virus RNA has been predominantly found in shrews, that might be its natural hosts. The study aimed at shrews after conducting a serosurvey of domestic and wild animals. However, seropositivity was detected in dogs and goats, instead of shrews.

What about human-to-human transmission?

The contagiousness of the virus depends upon its spreadability and contagiousness. Till now, there are no answers about human-to-human transmission. The authors believe that the sample size of the investigation is too small to determine any transmission.

Meanwhile, they noted that among 35 patients of LayV, no close contact or common exposure history suggests that infection among humans was irregular. The study observed that contact tracing of nine patients with 15-close contact family members showed no close-contact LayV transmission.