Wetlands Virus: Is It the Next Big Thing After COVID-19?

Do you have a pet dog? Then you've definitely seen that abominable six-legged insect. Despite its minuscule footprint, it carries a lot of diseases, spreading countless ailments like Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and rickettsiosis. This time, however, things are different. This time, they've come up with a new ailment, and it's for you- Wetland Virus or WELV.

A new study from China has researchers who have found a fresh ailment named wetland virus. Initially registered in 2019 after a patient was infected by a tick bite while visiting a wetland park in Inner Mongolia, the Wetlands Virus has broken the news with multiple new cases in central Asia. The virus draws its name from a wetland park in Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, where the 61-year-old "patient zero" was infected.

This virus comes to us from a school of viruses famous for being transmitted by ticks that can result in severe illnesses in people, just like the Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. The researchers poured over blood samples from different forest rangers. What came back was shocking—12 of 640 individuals had antibodies to WELV.

In-depth tests on tick bite patients found that 20 people tested positive for the virus, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe, like fever, diarrhoea, dizziness, nausea, and headaches. One patient, because of high WBC counts in the brain and spinal fluid, went into a coma.

WELV belongs to the orthonairovirus genus in the Nairoviridae family, most similar to the tickborne Hazara orthonairovirus genogroup. The infected patients had non-specific symptoms from fever to localised lymphadenopathy. Common lab findings were leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and increased d-timer and lactate dehydrogenase levels. Intraperitoneal injection of the virus resulted in lethal infections in BALB/c, C57BL/6, and Kunming mice.

Enter a team from the Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology that decided to isolate the virus from the primary patient and started surveillance work to find out how many hospital patients with a history of tick bites and fever had this disease.

This virus has spread to other patients and animals. In just four areas of China, seventeen patients could be spotted exhibiting non-specific symptoms like fever, dizziness, headache, muscle pain, malaise, arthritis, and back pain. They sometimes had petechiae (spots on the skin or mucous membranes because of capillary bleeding), neurologic symptoms, and localised lymph node swelling.

Researchers say Haemaphysalis concinna tick is behind this WELV, transmitting it to an animal that gives it to its offspring. Improving surveillance and detection of emerging WELV will help us understand this virus's effect on our health.

According to researchers, the Haemaphysalis concinna tick might transmit WELV to an animal that passes it onto its offspring via the ovaries. Better surveillance and detection of emerging orthonairovirus will facilitate a better understanding of this virus's effect on human health.

That's because they have non-specific symptoms like what happens when you get the flu, so it's easy to confuse them with other ailments. Also, tickborne diseases don't spread like COVID.

That's why finding a tick-based disease for the first time is tough. Today, a new genetic sequencing technique has made detecting pathogens simpler. But what happens when a pathogen is found in a patient? Linking it to ticks isn't simple because people unknowingly get tick bites.

Ticks are tiny and attach themselves to our skin in places that are hard to reach, like the back of our legs. Also, tick bites don't hurt like snake bites. A person with a tickborne disease cannot tell you the exact time and date of their bite.

WELV comes to us through a tick.

Coronavirus spreads through cough, sneeze, or exhaled droplets of an infected person. Symptoms for WELV include fever, headache, dizziness, malaise, muscle pain, arthritis, back pain, nausea, chills, and skin rash.

Coronavirus symptoms include fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny nose, no taste, fatigue and muscle pain.

For WELV, there is no specific treatment for this virus—supportive care is required. Medicines for severe COVID-19 may be redeliver, baricitinib (Olumiant) and, tocilizumab (Actemra), or a corticosteroid like dexamethasone.

Patients with the Wetland virus are usually discharged from the hospital within four to 15 days of treatment. If you have mild COVID-19 symptoms, you can expect to recover within 10 days to two weeks.

According to doctors, this virus has only been found in some of China because it hasn't spread yet. Prevent tick bites whenever you are in areas where they live so your risk of tickborne infections is minimal. Stay away from areas that have tall grass, leaf litter, and brush. Wear trousers, tuck your pants into your softs, and use an EPA-approved repellent with at least 20% DEET if you're visiting a tick-infested place.

Wetland virus is currently concentrated only in China, so you don't have to worry about contracting it unless you're going to Inner Mongolia for work or some other reason.

Regarding tick-based infections, take precautions and don't encounter ticks if you're going to places where they are found. The symptoms of this disease are non-typical, so it's easy to confuse this ailment with the flu or something simple. However, it is much more dangerous. Stay healthy and stay away from WELV.