A new virus is under investigation after dozens of cases were found in China, with experts saying it appears to have leapt from animals to humans. The virus has been found in 35 people and is being monitored by Taiwan's Centres for Disease Control.
The Langya henipavirus, known as LayV, has been found in eastern China and was detected after people started to show fever symptoms. The disease is reported to be related to the Hendra hanipavirus, which has killed four people since 1994.
LayV was originally discovered in 2018 and has been formally identified by scientists in a new letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Taiwan's CDC is now trying to find out how the virus is spreading. Of the 35 people with an acute infection, half showed fatigue, a cough and sore muscles while most had fever. A third had nausea, headache and vomiting.
Those infected are mostly farmers and factory workers from Henan and Shandong provinces. It is believed the virus may have originated in shrews
