--- title: Dozens in China Infected With New ‘Langya’ Virus description: Nearly three dozen people in China have been sickened, though there’s no evidence the pathogen can be transmitted from person-to-person. canonical: https://time.com/6205144/china-dozens-infected-langya-virus-shrews/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-08-10T17:21:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:38:24.457Z article:section: Health og:title: Dozens in China Infected With New ‘Langya’ Virus Carried by Shrews og:description: Nearly three dozen people in China have been sickened, though there’s no evidence the pathogen can be transmitted from person-to-person. og:url: https://time.com/6205144/china-dozens-infected-langya-virus-shrews/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8a90010624300ec/698a3482096a94b60d6acd7b/China-dozens-infected-langya-virus-shrews.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Dozens in China Infected With New ‘Langya’ Virus Carried by Shrews og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dozens in China Infected With New ‘Langya’ Virus Carried by Shrews twitter:description: Nearly three dozen people in China have been sickened, though there’s no evidence the pathogen can be transmitted from person-to-person. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8a90010624300ec/698a3482096a94b60d6acd7b/China-dozens-infected-langya-virus-shrews.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dozens in China Infected With New ‘Langya’ Virus Carried by Shrews > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=a680ab1b-3279-40b6-905c-24e326a43223&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: These Virus Hunters Want to Stop Future Pandemic Threats [Watch (HLS stream): These Virus Hunters Want to Stop Future Pandemic Threats](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cuwedOEw.m3u8) (5:30)  _Published 2022-07-29. Abbot’s Pandemic Defense Coalition is the first public-private effort led by industry to bring scientists around the world together to track current and emerging pathogens. The team is collecting virus samples from all over the world, searching for mutations, and so far they managed to alert the world to several that have swept the globe—including Gamma from a lab in Brazil and Omicron from a lab in South Africa._ by [Michelle Fay Cortez/Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Michelle Fay Cortez/Bloomberg Contributor Aug 10, 2022 5:21 PM UTC Abbot’s Pandemic Defense Coalition is the first public-private effort led by industry to bring scientists around the world together to track current and emerging pathogens. The team is collecting virus samples from all over the world, searching for mutations, and so far they managed to alert the world to several that have swept the globe—including Gamma from a lab in Brazil and Omicron from a lab in South Africa. by [Michelle Fay Cortez/Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Michelle Fay Cortez/Bloomberg Contributor Aug 10, 2022 5:21 PM UTC Nearly three dozen people in China have been sickened by a newly identified virus from the same family as the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses, though there’s no evidence the pathogen can be transmitted from person-to-person. The virus, named Langya henipavirus or LayV, was found thanks to an early detection system for feverish people with a recent history of exposure to animals in eastern China. The patients—mainly farmers—also reported fatigue, cough, loss of appetite and aches, with several developing blood-cell abnormalities and signs of liver and kidney damage. All survived. Among the 35 patients, 26 were infected only with LayV, according to a [report published](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2202705) in the _New England Journal of Medicine_. There was no evidence they had been in close contact or had a common exposure history, suggesting human infection may be sporadic, the researchers said. Tests detected the virus in 27% of shrews, a known vector for similar [henipaviruses](https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2020/travel-related-infectious-diseases/henipaviruses), suggesting the small, furry mole-like mammals may be a natural reservoir, they said. **Read More:** [_The Virus Hunters Trying to Prevent the Next Pandemic_](https://time.com/6202044/preparing-for-next-pandemic-virus-hunters/) Further investigation is needed to better understand the infection, according to the researchers from Beijing, Singapore and Australia. Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control said it is [paying attention](https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202208080023) to the report, and plans to start screening for the virus. The spread of germs from animals to humans, called zoonosis, [is common](https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html), accounting for more than six of out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the time they cause limited disease, dying out without having a major impact. In the aftermath of Covid-19, however, more tracking systems now are in place and picking up novel pathogens. _With assistance from_ Linda Lew_._ ## Transcript [00:00] Finding a new virus or different strains of an existing [00:03] one is like searching for a needle in a haystack. [00:06] And when the haystack is, as big as the planet, [00:10] it takes a really good microscope and a large coordinate [00:13] a team. [00:20] here is a scientist to [00:23] dreams of the pandemics were living with like stars Cove to or [00:27] covid-19. And that's where we're trying to understand [00:39] what could potentially become the next pandemic in the future [00:42] for the painful. [00:43] Few years that we've all lived through this another pandemic. [00:48] So we need to do to learn the lessons and not reinvent the wheel. [00:54] After March of 2020 and wave after wave of new variants of [00:58] covid-19, researchers realize they needed a better way to stay [01:03] ahead of a virus that doesn't appear to be going away anytime [01:06] soon, Abbott's. Pandemic defense Coalition, is the first public-private [01:12] effort led by industry to bring scientist together to track [01:17] current and emerging pathogens. [01:18] The team is collecting virus samples from all over the world [01:22] and searching for mutations so far they managed to alert the [01:28] world to several that have Globe including gamma from a lab in [01:32] Brazil and Omicron from a lab in South Africa. [01:37] The whole process start to finish begins with a collaborator in [01:41] a site that collecting samples from people who've been tested [01:44] for covid and once they get a result, [01:47] I want to know what strain was present in the sample after [01:50] an inactivation step. [01:52] We take the sample itself and remove everything else about [01:55] the sample of stuff. [01:56] For the nucleic acid, which is where the Genome of the material that [02:01] we can use to either determine how much is there a virus, [02:06] or we can use that material to the sequence and determine [02:09] the coronavirus is constantly mutating, but not all of its changes [02:17] are important. One of the most difficult aspects of staying [02:20] ahead of the virus is figuring out which of these could become [02:25] a threat to Public Health. [02:37] The virus is in charge here. [02:46] It's still surprising us. [02:50] Abbott's. Pandemic defense Coalition is a network of experts [02:53] in infectious disease, genetic sequencing, phylogenetics [02:58] and epidemiology they have more than a dozen Partners. [03:03] On five continents, who work to collect samples, [03:06] test them, and share the data among themselves and with other [03:10] public health, and political leaders around the world. [03:13] Researchers say the data collected from sequencing can help [03:18] them to ensure that tests for detecting the virus continue [03:22] to work. So people will know when they are infected. [03:26] Even with newer variance and take proper safety measures [03:30] like isolating and wearing masks to buy having a network [03:34] eyes in the field boots on the ground that will spot the trans. [03:42] Identify the cases enable us in real time to share information, [03:46] sequence, samples. And also. [03:50] Rebuild diagnostic test that can then be distributed [03:52] background or seen something in South Paulo are we also seeing [03:55] it in Thailand? [03:56] That type of information is critical to have quickly so that [04:00] different countries can prepare and respond. [04:03] We're building this coke capability and capacity at our partner [04:06] sites around the world as it is limited and need worshipping [04:10] of samples. That information is shared through the cloud, [04:14] excetera, as of November 2021 Abbott's. [04:18] Pandemic defense Coalition has analyzed over 1.4 million [04:23] sequences from 63 different variants and it's clear they won't [04:28] be done anytime soon. [04:30] And silently, once we have all that amount of data, [04:41] we don't have a pipeline of five, [04:43] a Matic tools that can quickly identify if maybe there's just [04:47] a [04:50] Test for it or maybe there's something that's completely [04:52] novel. And that's where diagnostic tests are really important [04:55] early on. As we have Dal, you ate that and help Public Health [04:58] responses accordingly. This is one of the main focuses of the [05:04] Abbot pandemic defense Coalition, is to democratize the knowledge [05:08] and the expertise that we've developed over the decades here, [05:10] to our partners, around the world to build the next generation [05:14] of virologist. A virus Hunter is an epidemiologist. [05:17] I think that's critical preventing the next. 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