A new virus, Langya henipavirus, is suspected to have caused infections in 35 people in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces over roughly a two-year period to 2021.
It’s related to Hendra and Nipah viruses, which cause disease in humans. However, there’s much we don’t know about the new virus—known as LayV for short—including whether it spreads from human to human.
Here’s what we know so far.
Researchers in China first detected this new virus as part of routine surveillance in people with a fever who had reported recent contact with animals. Once the virus was identified, the researchers looked for the virus in other people.
Symptoms reported appeared to be mostly mild—fever, fatigue, cough, loss of appetite, muscle aches, nausea and headache—although we don’t know how long the patients were unwell.
A smaller proportion had potentially more serious complications, including pneumonia, and abnormalities in liver and kidney function. However, the ...
