A scientific study revealed the detection in two provinces of China of 35 infections in humans of a new virus of animal origin, of the Henipavirus family, the state press of the Asian country reported on Tuesday.
the cases, none of them serious They were found in Shandong (east) and Henan (center), according to the official Global Times newspaper, which cites an article published by scientists from China and Singapore in the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world. .
The virus, for which there are currently no vaccines or treatments, was detected through throat swabs taken from patients who had recent contact with animalsand is associated with symptoms such as fever, tiredness, cough, loss of appetite, headaches, muscle aches, and nausea.
According to the newspaper, subsequent investigations revealed that 26 of the 35 patients carrying this henipavirus developed clinical symptoms, in addition to irritability and vomiting.
According to the state news portal The Paper, the henipavirus is one of the main emerging causes of the jump of diseases from animals to humans – a process called zoonosis – in the Asia-Pacific region.
That medium indicated that one of the virus transmission vectors is the fruit bat, considered a natural host of two of the known Henipaviruses: the Hendra virus (HeV) and the Nipah virus (NiV).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Hendra virus causes infections in humans, ranging from asymptomatic to acute respiratory infections and severe encephalitis, with an estimated mortality rate between 40 and 75 percent, which “may vary depending on the local epidemiological investigation. and clinical management capabilities.
The Global Times recalled that it is not proven that there are cases of person-to-person transmission, although previous studies indicate that this type of contagion is not ruled out.
The coronavirus will not be the last contagious disease to cause a pandemic, as new diseases will have an increasing impact on the daily lives of human beings,” said the deputy director of the Department of Infectious Pathology at Huashan Hospital, affiliated with the University of Fudan. Shanghai. , quoted by the newspaper.
Source: Observadora
