• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Scientists have discovered a new novel virus in China that’s infected dozens of people already

Home> News

Updated 22:19 9 Aug 2022 GMT+1Published 22:14 9 Aug 2022 GMT+1

Scientists have discovered a new novel virus in China that’s infected dozens of people already

Health officials are now on high alert as the contagion continues to spread.

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang

Health officials in China are monitoring the spread of a new virus that has already infected dozens, despite none of them having any known close contact.

Langya henipavirus, which is typically found in bats and shrews, has racked up 35 human infections across the provinces of Shandong and Henan, according to Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as per the Taipei Times.

The CDC have confirmed that they will begin to establish further nucleic acid testing procedures, tracking procedures and genome sequencing.

Advert

CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang told the Taipei Times that there have been no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus, however he urged people to pay close attention to further updates as authorities continue to investigate.

The announcement follows a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

26 of the 35 patients infected have suffered flu-like symptoms, with the study outlining that symptoms of Langya henipavirus have so far included fever, tiredness, cough, headache, loss of appetite, and vomiting.

The study also noted that researchers found patients with the virus suffered from a decrease in white blood cells, low platelet count, and in some cases liver or kidney failure.

Langya henipavirus belongs to the henipavirus family, which has two previously identified viruses; the Hendra virus and Nipah virus.

Advert

Viruses from the henipavirus family have a fatality rate of up to 75 per cent, making the fatality rate much higher than coronavirus, the World Health Organisation reports.

Deputy Chief Physician at the department of Infectious Diseases of Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University Wang Xinyu warned that the world needs to be prepared for future pandemics similar to the Coronavirus.

"Coronavirus will not be the last infectious disease to cause a pandemic worldwide, as new infectious diseases will have an increasingly greater impact on human daily life," he told the Global Times.

Test results conducted on local dogs, goats, and shrews have come back as positive.

Experts suspect that the virus may have been contracted from shrews, as the Langya henipavirus was found in 27 percent of the shrews tested.

Advert

There is no vaccine or treatment for henipaviruses, but doctors can provide treatment and care to alleviate various symptoms.

No deaths have been reported so far.

Featured Image Credit: Stocktrek Images, Inc./ Alamy. Keitma/Alamy.

Topics: News, China, Health, World News

Rachel Lang
Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

X

@rlangjournalist

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • China responded to worrying satellite image of man-made project NASA said is slowing down the Earth's rotation
  • US makes urgent request to China to stop Iranian retaliation that would affect the entire world
  • New 'trapped' Pompeii victims discovered holding items that have left scientists stunned
  • Scientists who claimed to have found 'vast underground city' beneath Egyptian pyramid share major new discovery

Choose your content:

10 mins ago
an hour ago
  • 10 mins ago

    Man shares update months after waking up in hospital to learn partner died after they ate meal

    Billy LeBlanc sadly lost his girlfriend, Natalie Clark, after they contracted a bacterial infection from eating oysters

    News
  • an hour ago

    Hiker who was trapped 1,000ft deep inside active volcano for four days dies before rescuers could save her

    Juliana Marins, 26, from Brazil, was hiking near active volcano Mount Rinjani

    News
  • an hour ago

    Chilling new government document warns British public must 'actively prepare' for war in UK

    The new National Security document has warned Brits of other nations looking to start conflict on UK soil

    News
  • an hour ago

    Man cut in half by forklift explained what his life is like now five years on from accident

    Loren Schauers was working as a labourer in Montana when the forklift he had been driving veered off a bridge

    News