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'no need for panic': experts are watching the langya virus

the langya henipavirus is thought to spread through contact with shrews, small mammals that look like moles.

by maija kappler
published aug 12, 2022
read time 2 minute read
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read time 2 minute read
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what we know so far about langya virus, the new zoonotic threat
researchers found the langya virus in more than a quarter of the 262 shrews they tested. getty
there’s another zoonotic disease on the rise, but experts don’t know yet how concerned we should be. langya henipavirus, or layv is thought to have spread to humans from shrews, which are small mammals similar to moles. over a three-year period from december 2018 to august 2021, 35 people in northeastern china caught the virus, global news has reported. most are farmers who had direct contact with shrews. researchers are tracking those illnesses closely to see if human-to-human transmission is possible, although it doesn’t appear to have happened yet, according to research published in the new england journal of medicine on aug. 4.
“there was no close contact or common exposure history among the patients, which suggests that the infection in the human population may be sporadic,” researchers wrote.
researchers also tested wild animals in the area and found the virus in more than a quarter of the 262 shrews they tested, as well as two per cent of goats and five per cent of dogs. the findings suggest “that the shrew may be a natural reservoir,” according to the guardian.

what are the symptoms of the langya virus?

people who contracted the virus had symptoms including fever, muscle aches, fatigue, cough and loss of appetite. in some cases, liver and kidney function was impaired. so far there have been no deaths from langya virus.

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story continues below
professor wang linfa, one of the authors of the research, said that the langya virus cases have “not been fatal or very serious,” and that there’s “no need for panic.”
infectious disease specialist dr. donald vinh told global that we just don’t know enough about the virus yet to draw any conclusions about how it spreads, or how big a risk it is.

“the medical and scientific community need to be vigilant and on guard for developing tests to make sure that we know how extensively distributed this virus is,” he said.

the majority of emerging infectious diseases — about 70 per cent — are believed to be passed from animals to humans, in the same way as covid-19, monkeypox, ebola and hiv. that number is increasing as a growing human population continue to expand into animal habitats, according to cnn. climate change and the destruction of forests and other natural environments will continue to bring humans into contact with wild animals and the viruses they carry.

“covid-19 was a warning shot from the whole of nature to our species,” dr. aaron bernstein of harvard’s center for climate, health and the global environment and the leader of the prevent pandemics at the source taskforce, told the guardian last year. “but so far, world leaders are far from acting. you hear from [them] about the actions to supposedly prevent pandemics, but the idea of preventing their root causes is scarcely even mentioned, let alone discussed.”

maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com
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