Context: Recently, Cases of a novel Langya henipavirus (LayV) have been reported in Shandong and Henan provinces of China.

• The newly discovered virus is a “phylogenetically distinct Henipavirus”, according to a recent study — A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China — published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Langya henipavirus

• It is a phylogenetically distinct henipavirus.

• However, it has a genome organisation identical to that of other henipaviruses.

• It is phylogenetically related to Mojiang henipavirus, which was discovered in southern China.

• Symptoms: fatigue, cough, anorexia, myalgia (pain in the muscles), nausea, headache, vomiting, Thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, impaired liver function.

Henipavirus

• Henipaviruses are classified as biosafety level 4 (BSL4) pathogens.

• They can cause severe illness in animals and humans.

• 6 henipavirus species have been identified so far: Hendra virus, Nipah virus, Cedar virus, Ghanaian bat virus, Mojiang virus, and Langya henipavirus. 

• Cedar, Ghanaian bat, and Mojiang virus are not known to cause human disease. But Hendra and Nipah infect humans and can cause fatal illness.

• As of now, there are no licensed drugs or vaccines meant for humans.

• Nipah and Hendra virus also belong to the same genus, henipavirus, from the Paramyxoviridae family.

• Paramyxoviridae is a family of single-stranded Ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses that cause different types of viral infections.

Origin of the disease

• As per a research paper, the disease could have been transmitted by shrews, small insectivorous mammals resembling a mouse.

• 2 percent of the tested goats and 5 percent of the tested dogs were positive.

Transmission

• The authors of the study have underlined that the sample size of their investigation is too small to determine human-to-human transmission. 

Key Fact

• Infectious diseases transmitted between animals and humans are called zoonotic diseases.