Langya virus

Most of us love flying foxes.  We love their flight as they all take off to forage at sunset.  They are pretty cute to look at.  Their smell in their roosting sites is another matter and what they do to the trees they roost in and the fruit trees they visit is not pretty.  But they are wonderful.

In recent times they have come too close to human beings and other animals. This is partly because humans have invaded their habitat, and partly because they have decided to live with us in cities where there is more food, a commodity that is dwindling in their natural habitat. And so we have had a succession of new viruses that have been passed on by the bats, such as Hendra virus and lyssavirus.  Langya virus is the latest, a virus belonging to the newly identified  Henipavirus genus comprising negative-stranded RNA .

I should add that it is not just the bats, as flying foxes are called, that are to blame. Shrews and microbats are also hosts. Langya virus was first identified in China — 35 patients from 2018 to August 2022.  Symptoms include fever, fatigue and cough.  The name refers to the Langya Commandery, a historical military post in Shandong, China.

Naturally our antennae went up.  A new virus found in China!  Fortunately this one does not seem to cause death and spreads slowly among people.