Beware of the New Hendra Virus Variant, More Deadly than Covid?

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Some time ago the government just relaxed the rules regarding masks, to be precise it is permissible to remove masks in open spaces. Of course this is good news and great hope for economic growth and the business world.

Unfortunately, not yet over the Covid-19 pandemic and the mysterious acute hepatitis outbreak, researchers have now re-discovered a new virus called the Hendra virus.

Hendra virus (HeV) is a member of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus. HeV was first discovered in 1994 from specimens obtained during an outbreak of respiratory and neurological disease in horses and humans in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia.

Researchers at Australia’s Griffith University say that a variant of the virus can be transmitted to humans. The virus has also been detected in the urine of black and gray-headed bats that have spread across Australia, the federal territory of New South Wales to Queensland.

“The results of our study examining certain bat species reveal how the Hendra virus variant is transmitted to horses and humans,” said lead author Alison Peel of the Center for Food Health and Safety, quoted on the official Griffith University website earlier this week.

Hendra virus is more commonly found in late May to late August, but transmission is believed to occur in all seasons.

So, is the Hendra virus deadly? According to epidemiologists, 7 out of 10 humans infected with the Hendra virus can die.

Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman revealed that the Hendra virus had actually been discovered for a long time. This virus is an endemic disease that is only found in a number of areas.

Since being reported in 1994, the Hendra virus has been recorded to have a mortality rate of more than 50 percent, both in animals and humans. The “victims” of exposure were mostly reported in horses.

Horses infected by exposure to droppings from fruit-eating bats are generally fatal, with about 80% of cases surviving. A similar threat also lurks humans.

“Even in humans, 70 percent of them are lethal if exposed, 7 out of 10 humans who are infected with the Hendra virus die,” he said, as quoted by detikHealth.

For this reason, Dicky appealed to the public, especially those who have farms, to be aware of the transmission of the Hendra virus. This is because the virus can survive in animal waste for four days.

“The symptoms in humans should be fever, cough, sore throat, headache, the same as flu accompanied by meningitis or encephalitis or inflammation of the brain, if it develops it causes headaches, high fever, and also seizures to coma,” he concluded.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]