According to an article published in the daily Global Timesin two provinces of China, a scientific study was carried out that revealed the detection of 35 infections in humans of a new virus of animal origin of the henipavirus type.
The cases were detected through tests taken from the throat of patients who had recent contact with domestic animals. The symptoms they presented, in addition to vomiting and irritability, were tiredness, fever, cough, loss of appetite, nausea, headaches and muscle aches. It should be noted that there are no vaccines or specific treatment for this type of virus.
According to ThePaper, this virus is one of the main causes of the jump of diseases from animals to humans in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, it indicates that one of the transmission factors is fruit bats, since they are considered natural hosts of two of the best-known henipaviruses: hendra and nipah.
The World Health Organization (WHO) pointed out that present in humans, the hendra virus causes infections that can be asymptomatic or acute respiratory infections up to severe encephalitis, with an estimated mortality rate between 40 and 75 percent.
At the moment, it has not been proven that the virus can be transmitted from person to person. However, scientists do not rule out this type of contagion. It is worth mentioning that of these 35 cases detected, none have been considered serious or fatal.
The deputy director of the Department of Infectious Pathologies at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, China, stated that the coronavirus will not be the only contagious disease causing a pandemic, as new diseases will have an increasing impact on humanity.