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China has reported the first human infection and the first death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinarian who worked at a research institute specializing in breeding non-human primates in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and fell ill about a month later.
He began to have nausea, vomiting, and fever, as well as neurological problems, and eventually died in May.
Blood and saliva samples were tested and researchers in April found evidence of the Monkey B virus, also known as the herpes B virus.
Researchers said a doctor and nurse who were in close contact with the victim tested negative for the virus.
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Monkey virus B is widespread in macaque monkeys, but infection in humans is extremely rare. Since the virus was first identified in 1932, only 50 cases have been reported, the majority in North America. Untreated B virus infections in humans are serious, however, with a death rate of around 80 percent.
Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath, and progress to more serious complications such as swelling of the brain and spinal cord.
Laboratory workers and veterinarians with close contact with animals are most at risk, as people are usually infected with the virus if they are bitten or scratched by an infected macaque, or if they come in contact with the eyes, the nose or mouth of the monkey.
But the virus is unlikely to mutate in a way that poses a problem to the general population. Only one case of human-to-human transmission of the virus has been documented.
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