China reports first death from herpes B virus

A veterinarian in the Chinese capital, Beijing, has died after contracting herpes virus (simian virus B), the first human case of it, according to the Global Times.

Today, Sunday, the newspaper reported that the 53-year-old veterinarian showed the first symptoms of the disease in the form of nausea and vomiting, a month after dissecting two dead monkeys, adding that the doctor sought treatment in several hospitals, but eventually died.

She said that there had been no fatal or even clinically apparent infections with this virus in China before, so the vet's case represents the first human case of it, identified in China.

The virus, which was originally isolated in 1932, can be transmitted by direct contact and through body secretions, and its mortality rate is 70-80 percent.

Following the veterinarian's death, China intensified monitoring of laboratory macaques and staff working with monkeys.

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