While the world is managing the novel coronavirus, researchers at the Indian Council of Medical Research have cautioned of another Chinese infection, called ‘Cat Que Virus’ (CQV), which has a ‘possibility’ to spread illness in India, announced IANS. As per the report, the CQV can cause febrile diseases, meningitis, and pediatric encephalitis in people.
The report, referring to seven specialists at the ICMR’s National Institute of Virology in Pune, expressed that China and Vietnam have revealed the presence of Cat Que Virus in culex mosquitoes and pigs. The experts emphasised the need to understand the replication kinetics of this virus due to the spread of similar species of the Culex mosquitoes in India.
The research body uncovered that domestic pigs are the essential mammalian host of CQV and antibodies against the infection have been found in pig raised locally in China. This shows that CQV has framed a characteristic cycle in localities, reads the report.
The researchers found antibodies for the tropical infection in two out of the 883 human serum tests tried across states. It shows that these two individuals were tainted with the infection eventually of time.
“Anti-CQV IgG antibody positivity in human serum samples tested and the replication capability of CQV in mosquitoes indicated a possible disease-causing potential of CQV in the Indian scenario. Screening of more human and swine serum samples using these assays is required as a proactive measure for the understanding the prevalence of this neglected tropical virus,” the research published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research in June stated.
“In the Indian subcontinent, information indicates that mosquitoes, for example, Ae. aegypti, Cx. quinquefasciatus and Cx. Tritaeniorhynchus were susceptible to CQV. In this manner, mosquitoes were discovered to be a possible vector for CQV transmission to mammalian hosts”, said a researcher.
The analysts additionally expressed that the presence in Culex mosquitoes in China and pigs in Vietnam recommended the susceptibility of Asian nations to CQV, included the report.