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A veterinarian in China has died after contracting an extremely rare viral infection known to infect monkeys, reports show.
The 53-year-old veterinarian is the first known human case of the virus, called monkey virus B, to be reported in China, according to The Washington Post.
The man worked as a veterinarian at a Beijing-based institute specializing in experimental research on non-human primates, according to a report by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In early March, he dissected two dead monkeys; a month later, he developed fever, nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms, according to the report. Despite treatment in several hospitals, the man died on May 27.
Doctors have diagnosed humans with the monkey B virus, also known as the B virus. The virus most commonly infects macaque monkeys, and it is rarely seen in humans – there have only been 50 human cases of the virus reported since its discovery in 1932, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But when the virus “jumps” from monkeys to humans, it is often fatal – of the 50 people infected, 21 have died, the CDC said. Most human cases have occurred in people who work with monkeys, such as vets or researchers, the Post reported.
Once the virus passes to humans, it does not easily spread between people. According to the CDC, there has been only one reported case of B virus infection in a human spreading to another person.
The novel coronavirus is also believed to have emerged from a “zoonotic“which means it has passed from animals to humans. But for virus B, humans are a” dead end, “said Dr Nikolaus Osterrieder, dean of the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences in Hong Kong , to the Post. “It’s not jumping from one human to another.”
Still, Chinese health officials said the new report suggests the virus “could pose a potential zoonotic threat” to people who work with monkeys; and therefore there is a need to “strengthen surveillance among laboratory macaques and labor workers in China.”
Monkey B virus is different from monkey pox virus. The Monkey B virus belongs to a family of viruses called herpes viruses – the same family that includes humans herpes simplex 1, which usually causes cold sores, and herpes simplex 2, which causes genital herpes. The Monkeypox virus, on the other hand, belongs to a family of viruses called orthopoxviruses and is related to the virus that causes smallpox.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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