AnyTV News Another deadly virus found in China, attacks the brain directly

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Tick Borne Viruses

New Tick-Borne Virus Discovered in China: A new tick-borne virus found in China can also spread to humans. This virus can cause neurological disease. This has been revealed in a report by scientists. Recently (September 4, 2024) a report was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. According to the report, the germ named Wetland Virus (WELV) was first detected in June 2019 in a hospital patient undergoing treatment in Jinzhou city of China.

Information received like this

The virus was discovered when a 61-year-old man developed a fever, headache and vomiting about five days after visiting a park in Inner Mongolia. The victim told doctors he was bitten by a tick in the park. Antibiotics did not alleviate the sick man’s symptoms, suggesting the infection was not caused by bacteria.

What was found in the investigation?

Analysis of DNA and RNA in the sick man’s blood found a virus that had never been seen before. Investigations revealed it to be a group of viruses that includes several viruses carried by ticks. Tests also found the virus behind Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a rare and deadly disease that can spread to humans through tick bites or contact with bodily fluids of infected people. The pathogen, called wetland virus (WELV), had not been seen before in animals or humans.

Researchers expanded the scope of investigation

After finding the virus in the patient’s blood, researchers looked for it in ticks and animals in northern China, including the wetland park the man had visited. The researchers collected about 14,600 ticks and separated them by location and species. The investigation then found that five tick species were responsible for the virus. Ticks of the Haemaphysalis concinna species tested positive most often.

symptoms like these were seen

The team also analysed the blood of forest rangers and found that 12 of the 640 samples contained antibodies against the virus. In addition, they also tested for the virus in four hospitals in northeastern China. In addition, the virus was also tested in hundreds of patients who had fever within a month of the tick bite. Those infected with the wetland virus during this time had common symptoms such as fever, dizziness, headache, back pain as well as vomiting and diarrhea. The researchers informed that one patient infected with the wetland virus went into a coma. That patient had an infection in the white blood cells in the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. However, after treatment “all patients recovered and were discharged from the hospital after 4 to 15 days.”

Experiment done on mice

However, when the researchers tried injecting the virus into lab mice, they found that it could cause a fatal infection that could reach multiple organs, including the brain. This finding supports the idea that the wetland virus (WELV) can cause serious infections of the nervous system. The data the researchers obtained led them to conclude that the wetland virus is fatal in humans and is spread to humans by ticks.