Virus in Malaysia Stumps Scientists
A virus that has killed dozens of people in Malaysia is the first of its kind, an American health official said Thursday, and virologists are stumped about how it spreads.
Scientists from the U.S. and other experts from Australia, Taiwan and Japan arrived in Malaysia several weeks ago to help the Southeast Asian country determine the nature of the virus believed to be spreading from pigs to humans.
At first, officials thought all of the deaths were caused by Japanese encephalitis, which they believed was being transmitted from pigs to humans by mosquitoes. Malaysia has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of pigs in an attempt to stop the epidemic.
Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the previously unrecognized virus is similar, but not identical, to the Hendra virus that killed 15 horses and a trainer in Australia.
The CDC said 229 people are believed to have been sickened in the last six months in Malaysia. At least 111 have died.
It’s not clear what proportion of the illnesses were caused by the new Hendra-like virus or how many were due to Japanese encephalitis.
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