Virusi viwili vya henipa, virusi vya Hendra (HeV) na virusi vya Nipah (NiV) tayari vinajulikana kusababisha ugonjwa mbaya kwa wanadamu. Sasa, riwaya ya henipavirus imetambuliwa kwa wagonjwa wenye homa huko Mashariki mwa Uchina. Hii ni aina tofauti ya filojenetiki ya henipavirus na imepewa jina la Langya henipavirus (LayV). Wagonjwa walikuwa na historia ya hivi majuzi ya kuathiriwa na wanyama, kwa hivyo kupendekeza uhamishaji wa wanyama kwa wanadamu. Hii inaonekana kuwa virusi vipya vilivyoibuka ambavyo vina athari kubwa kwa afya ya binadamu.
Hendra virusi (HeV) and the Nipah virusi (NiV), belonging to genus Henipavirus in the virusi family Paramyxoviridae emerged in the recent past. Both are responsible for fatal diseases in humans and animals. Their genome consists of a single-stranded RNA surrounded by an envelope of lipid.
Hendra virusi (HeV) was first identified in 1994-95 through an outbreak in Hendra suburb in Brisbane, Australia when many horses and their trainers became infected and succumbed to lung disease with bleeding conditions. Virusi vya Nipah (NiV) ilitambuliwa kwa mara ya kwanza miaka michache baadaye mwaka wa 1998 huko Nipah, Malaysia kufuatia kuzuka kwa ndani. Tangu wakati huo, kumekuwa na visa kadhaa vya NiV kote ulimwenguni katika nchi tofauti haswa katika Malaysia, Bangladesh, na India. Milipuko hii kwa kawaida ilihusishwa na vifo vingi kati ya binadamu na mifugo.
Matunda popo (Pteropus), also known as flying fox, are natural animal reservoirs of both Hendra virusi (HeV) and the Nipah virusi (NiV). Transmission occurs from bats via saliva, urine, and excreta to humans. Pigs are intermediate host for Nipah while horses are intermediate hosts for HeV and NiV.
Kwa binadamu, maambukizo ya HeV huonyesha dalili kama za mafua kabla ya kuendelea hadi kwenye ugonjwa wa encephalitis mbaya wakati maambukizi ya NiV mara nyingi hujitokeza kama matatizo ya neva na encephalitis kali na, wakati mwingine, ugonjwa wa kupumua. Maambukizi ya mtu-kwa-mtu hutokea katika hatua ya marehemu ya maambukizi1.
Henipaviruses are highly pathogenic. These are fast emerging zoonotic virusi. In June 2022, researchers reported characterization of another henipavirus named, Angavokely virusi (AngV)2. Hii ilitambuliwa katika sampuli za mkojo kutoka kwa popo wa porini wa Madagascar. Jenomu yake inaonyesha vipengele vyote vikuu vinavyohusishwa na pathogenicity katika virusi vingine vya henipa. Hili pia linaweza kuwa tatizo ikiwa litamwagika kwa wanadamu, ikizingatiwa ukweli kwamba popo huliwa kama chakula nchini Madagaska.
Tarehe 04 Agosti 2022, watafiti3 reported identification (characterisation and isolation) of yet another novel henipavirus from the throat swab of febrile patients during sentinel surveillance. They named this strain Langya henipavirus (LayV). It is phylogenetically related to Mojiang hepatitis. They identified 35 patients with LayV infection in Shandong and Henan provinces of China. Hakuna vimelea vingine vilivyokuwepo katika wagonjwa 26 kati ya hawa. Wagonjwa wote walio na LayV walikuwa na homa na baadhi ya dalili zingine. Shrews inaonekana kuwa hifadhi ya asili ya LayV, kama utafiti wa wanyama wadogo ulionyesha uwepo wa LayV RNA katika 27% ya shrews, 2% ya mbuzi na 5% ya mbwa.
The findings of this study suggest that LayV infection was the cause of fever and associated symptoms among the patients studied and small domestic animals were the intermediate hosts of the LayV virusi.
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Marejeo:
- Kummer S, Kranz DC (2022) Henipaviruses-Tishio la mara kwa mara kwa mifugo na wanadamu. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 16(2): e0010157. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010157
- Madera S., et al 2022. Ugunduzi na Tabia ya Genomic ya Novel Henipavirus, virusi vya Angavokely, kutoka kwa popo wa matunda huko Madagaska. Ilichapishwa Juni 24, 2022. Chapisha awali bioRxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.06.12.495793
- Zhang, Xiao-Ai et al 2022. Henipavirus ya Zoonotic katika Wagonjwa wa Febrile nchini Uchina. Agosti 4, 2022. N Engl J Med 2022; 387:470-472. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2202705
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