Cat Que Virus: ICMR warns of another Chinese-origin virus with disease potential

The spate of bad news just keeps coming in 2020. Even as India grapples with a raging novel Coronavirus pandemic, the country's top medical body has warned of another virus, called ‘Cat Que Virus’ (CQV) emanating from China, which has a ‘potential’ to spread disease here.

One of the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), the CQV can cause febrile illnesses, meningitis and paediatric encephalitis in humans. As per reports, the Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR) National Institute of Virology in Pune stated that China and Vietnam have reported 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.

As per the ICMR, domestic pigs are the primary mammalian host of CQV and antibodies against the virus have been reported in swine reared locally in China. 

The scientists discovered antibodies for the tropical virus in two out of the 883 human serum samples tested across Indian states, indicating that these two people were infected with the virus at some point of time. It was not found in any of the human at the time of study. The two samples that tested positive for CQV antibodies came from Karnataka in 2014 and 2017.

“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 context, data showed that mosquitoes such as Ae. aegypti, Cx. quinquefasciatus and Cx. Tritaeniorhynchus were susceptible to CQV. Thus, mosquitoes were found to be a potential vector for CQV transmission to mammalian hosts”, said a scientist.

The researchers also stated that the presence in Culex mosquitoes in China and pigs in Vietnam suggested the susceptibility of Asian countries to CQV, added the report.

Follow Coronavirus Live updates

READ | India’s Feluda COVID-19 Test Cheaper, Faster Alternative To RT-PCR, Say Scientists

COVID-19 outbreak in India

As per the latest report shared by the Union Health Ministry, COVID-19 cases in India has breached the 61 lakh mark. So far 61,45,291 COVID-19 cases have been recorded, out of which 51,01,397 have successfully recovered while 96,318 have succumbed to the dosease. After India witnessed a steady increase in the Coronavirus recoveries, the total number of active cases in the country are 9,47,576.

In the past 24 hours, 70,589 new cases, 15,064 recoveries and 776 deaths have been reported. According to the latest update by ICMR, until September 28, over 7,31,10,041 COVID-19 tests have been successfully completed. 

Worldwide, more than 10 lakh people have lost their lives to COVID-19 while 3.3 crore people have been infected.

(With inputs from agencies)

READ | 100% Increase In India's Covid Recoveries In Past Month: Health Ministry Puts Stats Out

READ | Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Launches Online Portal Of COVID-19 Vaccine