The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientists have discovered another virus, the 'Cat Que Virus' documented mostly in China, even as the world is still struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic The virus has the ability to spread diseases across India, according to the study released by ICMR.
CQV can cause febrile diseases, meningitis and paediatric encephalitis in humans as one of the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). In China and Vietnam, the presence of cat que virus (CQV) in Culex mosquitoes and pigs has been reported.
Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) ICMR, Pune, have found virus antibodies in two of the 883 human serum samples examined from across states in India, given the spread of related species of culex mosquitoes in India, suggesting that people had contracted the infection at some point in time. At the time of the analysis, however, the virus was not present in any of the human or animal samples. When a virus enters the body, antibodies are produced by the immune system of humans.
In the most recent issue of the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR), the results of the study were published. Indian mosquitoes are susceptible to CQV, which could also become a public health pathogen, as per the ICMR report.
A mosquito is its natural host. The primary mammalian host of CQV is domestic pigs, and anti-CQV IgM and IgG antibodies have been identified in pigs locally reared in China.
CQV has been isolated and confirmed from its natural host mosquito according to ICMR, but the role of birds as a host or vector for the transmission of CQV and the report of human CQV infection has not been documented. The primary mammalian host of CQV is domestic pigs, and antibodies to the virus have been identified in pigs raised locally in China, suggesting that CQV has developed a natural cycle in local areas.
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