In recent days, headlines about the new Langya virus have spread around the world.
The virus was first discovered in China in 2018 after a 53-year-old farmer sought health care at a hospital in Qingdao, Shanghai province, after developing symptoms such as fever, headache, cough and nausea.
However, it was four years before the virus the man was infected with was identified as the Langya virus.
It emerged in a research article in the renowned New England Journal of Medicine last week.
– TESTED: Workers are routinely checked for infection in Beijing. Photo: Andy Wong/AP
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Underrated
So far, around 35 cases of the new virus have been detected. So far, no serious cases or deaths have been reported.
But scientists fear that the virus could be the start of a new pandemic.
– We vastly underestimate the number of zoonotic cases in the world, and this Langya virus is only the tip of the iceberg, says virus expert and professor at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health, Leo Poon, to CNN.
Zoonoses are infectious diseases that spread from animals to humans.
«Disease X»
Researchers believe that the virus has spread from, among other things, shrews to humans, but there is currently no evidence to suggest that the infection has spread via humans.
The authors behind the study emphasize that larger studies are needed to clarify this.
Infection researcher Linfa Wang is one of the authors behind the article.
She tells CNN that although the new virus is unlikely to develop into a new “disease X”, which on previous occasions has developed into pandemics and epidemics, there is reason to be aware.
– This shows that such zoonotic events happen more often than we think, or know, says Wang.
– Not unusual
– Espen Rostrup Nakstad, asst. Director of the Directorate of Health. Photo: Jonas Been Henriksen / TV 2
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Assistant director of health Espen Rostrup Nakstad shares that opinion.
– It is not unusual for new viruses to be detected that originate from small rodents, bats and other animals – there are probably thousands of them that we do not know about, he said to TV 2 on Thursday.
However, Wang is clear that one is dependent on careful monitoring of the virus.
– It is absolutely necessary to carry out active monitoring in a transparent and internationally cooperative way, says Wang who is a professor at the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School.
– Taken to bed
There are several critical questions that still need to be answered in the hunt for the extent of the Langya virus.
How widespread it is in nature, how it spreads into people, how dangerous it is to human health and the potential for it to spread between people are all questions that need answers.
– This is important so that we are not taken to bed when, and not if, the next pandemic comes, says virologist Malik Peiris at the University of Hong Kong.
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