Hong Kong’s first monkey virus case – what do we know about the B virus?
Al Jazeera
Transmission to humans is rare but with no vaccine, government has advised people to stay away from wild monkeys.
Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection has announced its first human case of B virus in a rare incidence of a virus being transmitted from animals to humans. The centre is urging the public to refrain from touching or feeding wild monkeys to reduce the risk of catching it.
Here is what we know about the B virus and the case in Hong Kong:
A 37-year-old man was reported to have been attacked and injured by monkeys at Hong Kong’s Kam Shan Country Park, also locally known as Monkey Hill, in late February. The precise nature of his injuries is not known.
A few weeks later, having become ill, the man, who otherwise had “good past health”, according to a statement published on the Hong Kong government’s website, was admitted to Yan Chai Hospital’s emergency department on March 21 with a fever and “decreased conscious level”.
On Wednesday this week, his cerebrospinal fluid specimen tested positive for the B virus at the Centre of Health Protection’s laboratory.
