Hong Kong’s Centre for Well being Safety has introduced its first human case of B virus in a uncommon incidence of a virus being transmitted from animals to people. The centre is urging the general public to chorus from touching or feeding wild monkeys to scale back the danger of catching it.
Here’s what we all know concerning the B virus and the case in Hong Kong:
What is understood concerning the B virus case in Hong Kong?
A 37-year-old man was reported to have been attacked and injured by monkeys at Hong Kong’s Kam Shan Nation Park, additionally domestically referred to as Monkey Hill, in late February. The exact nature of his accidents will not be recognized.
Just a few weeks later, having turn out to be ailing, the person, who in any other case had “good previous well being”, in line with an announcement revealed on the Hong Kong authorities’s web site, was admitted to Yan Chai Hospital’s emergency division on March 21 with a fever and “decreased acutely aware degree”.
On Wednesday this week, his cerebrospinal fluid specimen examined constructive for the B virus on the Centre of Well being Safety’s laboratory.
The person contaminated is now in a vital situation and is being handled within the intensive care unit of the hospital.
There are about 1,800 wild monkeys in Hong Kong, together with two totally different macaque species and their hybrid, in line with Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Division. The transmission of a illness from an animal to a human is called zoonotic spillover.
What’s B virus?
The B virus is often known as the herpes simiae virus. It produces flu-like signs resembling fever, fatigue, muscle ache and headache. Signs can present up inside a month of publicity to the virus, or as early as three to seven days after publicity, in line with america Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) web site.
Different signs embody shortness of breath and nausea, the CDC web site added.
Over time, blisters can seem on the physique. Because the virus progresses, it spreads to the mind and spinal twine, inflicting irritation. This could trigger issues with muscle coordination, mind injury and even demise.
The virus could be recognized by a B virus polymerase chain response (PCR) take a look at with saliva samples or materials from blisters, if they’re current.
Whereas the Hong Kong case is the nation’s first, the Centre for Well being Safety mentioned situations of the virus have been reported in different places together with the US, Canada, mainland China and Japan.
How does B virus unfold?
In line with the CDC, the virus in people is normally brought on by macaque monkeys, that are generally contaminated by the virus however don’t usually show signs.
The B virus is of course carried within the saliva, urine and stool of macaques, that are generally present in Hong Kong, in line with the CDC. People could be contaminated when bitten or scratched by macaque monkeys, or when tissue or fluid from a monkey enters through damaged pores and skin on account of a minimize or scratch they have already got.
Different primates resembling chimpanzees can contract the virus and regularly die from it however there have been no documented instances of those different primates spreading the virus to people. There isn’t any vaccine.
The Hong Kong Middle for Well being Safety recommends washing any wounds inflicted by a monkey underneath working water and searching for medical help instantly. The CDC recommends washing gently and scrubbing the wound for quarter-hour with cleaning soap, detergent or iodine after which working water over it for an additional 15 to twenty minutes earlier than instantly searching for medical consideration.
People are usually not contaminated with this virus regularly. In line with the CDC web site, because the virus was first recognized in 1932, solely 50 individuals have been documented with infections, and 21 of them have died. Veterinarians and lab employees who are available in shut contact with macaques are extra weak to the virus.
There was one documented case of the virus spreading from one human to a different, in line with the Pennsylvania Well being Division web site.
Can or not it’s handled?
Anti-viral medicines can be utilized to deal with the virus.
Antiretroviral remedy (ART), or the therapy of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) utilizing anti-HIV medicine, may also be prescribed however the CDC states that the choice on whether or not or to not prescribe ART takes under consideration a number of components together with the situation of the macaque, how correctly and rapidly the wound was cleaned and the character of the wound, in line with the Pennsylvania Division of Well being web site.