Chinese Man Dies of Rare Virus From Monkeys

TUESDAY, July 20, 2021 (HealthDay News) — A Chinese researcher has died after catching a rare infectious disease called the Monkey B virus, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention officials say.

In March, the 53-year-old veterinarian dissected two dead monkeys as part of his work in a Beijing research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding. He developed nausea, vomiting, and fever a month later and died May 27, The Washington Post reported.

Evidence of the Monkey B virus was found in the man’s blood and saliva, making it the first documented case of the virus in China. Two of the man’s close contacts, a male doctor and a female nurse, tested negative for the virus, officials said.

The Monkey B virus, also called the herpes B virus, is prevalent among macaque monkeys but extremely rare among humans. In humans, it can attack the central nervous system and cause brain inflammation that leads to a loss of consciousness, Kentaro Iwata, an infectious disease expert at Kobe University in Tokyo, told The Post. It has about an 80 percent death rate if it is not treated.

There have been less than 100 reported human cases of herpes B since the first case of primate-to-human transmission in 1932. Victims have tended to be veterinarians, scientists, or researchers who work directly with primates and could be exposed to their bodily fluids through scratches, bites, or dissections. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has only been one documented case of an infected human spreading the virus to another person, The Post reported.

The Washington Post Article