By Andrea Hargraves 
The newly identified virus in China, which scientists called the Langea hanniba virus (LayV), infected 35 people who developed symptoms between 2018 and 2021, according to a study published on August 3.
The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine and was signed by researchers from China, Singapore and Australia, who recruited people with suspected zoonoses in Chinese hospitals between April 2018 and August 2021.
Cases of (26) and co-infection (9) with LayV, a virus of the genus Henipavirus, were diagnosed in the Chinese provinces of Shandong and Henan from a first patient from whom throat secretions were collected for analysis. Then, blood samples were analyzed.
Only the 26 people infected with LayV virus (and no other viruses at the same time) had symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, loss of appetite, headache, muscle aches, nausea or vomiting, accompanied, in some cases, by changes in kidney and liver function or in the production of blood cells. Most of the people were farmers and women and were 45 or older.
The study suggests that shrews (a small, mouse-like rodent) may be the natural reservoir for the virus and that infection in humans may be sporadic, as there has been no close contact or a history of common exposure between patients.
The authors of the work consider the discovery to be the discovery of a new virus of possible animal origin and associated with a feverish state in humans. “It deserves further research to better understand the human disease associated with it.”.
The small number of samples studied did not allow scientists to determine whether there was transmission of fibrous repellents between humans.
LayV is more closely related, from an phylogenetic point of view, to the Mojiang henipavirus, which was discovered in southern China.
In Portugal, the Directorate General of Health Lusa informed today that it is in contact with international health authorities, pending further information from the World Health Organization on possible measures to be considered.
Speaking to Expresso, virologist Pedro Simas said that the epidemic caused by the Langia hanniba virus initially ‘Very unlikely’given the small number of cases identified in four years.