Henipavirus Outbreak in China

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a newly identified Henipavirus, named Langya (LayV), infected farmers and other residents, who believe it may have spread directly or indirectly from shrews – small mole-like mammals. The genome of this virus was phylogenetically related to the Mojiang Henipavirus (MojV), which was discovered in southern China. An investigation identified patients with an acute Langya virus infection, and while the pathogen did not cause any reported deaths, it was detected in 35 unrelated fever patients in hospitals in the Shandong and Henan provinces between 2018 and 2021, a finding in tune with longstanding warnings from scientists that animal viruses are regularly spilling undetected into people around the world. The first clues to the presence of this novel virus emerged when a farmer was admitted to a hospital in Shandong in December 2018 with flu-like symptoms. After the patient’s test samples were examined, scientists found...