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By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
China has reported the first human infection with the herpes B virus, aka monkey B virus, in a 53-year-old Beijing-based veterinarian, according to Notes from the Field in the China CDC Weekly.
Image / Robert Herriman
He worked at an institute specializing in non-human primate breeding and experimental research in Beijing. He dissected two monkeys that died on March 4 and 6, 2021, and had nausea and vomiting followed by fever with neurological symptoms a month later. As a result, the patient saw a doctor at several hospitals but eventually died on May 27.
Researchers collected the cerebrospinal fluid from the vet in April and identified him as positive for the herpes B virus, but samples from his close contacts tested negative for the virus.
There were no fatal or even clinically obvious herpes B infections in China until 2021.
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), B virus infections in humans are usually caused by macaque monkeys. These types of monkeys are commonly infected with the B virus, but they usually do not show symptoms or have only mild illness.
B virus infections in humans are rare. Since the B virus was identified in 1932, only 50 people have been documented to have infections; 21 of them died. Most of these people became infected after being bitten or scratched by a monkey, or when tissue or fluids from a monkey touched their broken skin, such as through a needle stick or a cut. In 1997, a researcher died of infection with the B virus after body fluid from an infected monkey splashed into her eye.
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