In Bangladesh, five people were found to have reovirus for the first time. The virus was first discovered in 1950 in the United States. None of them had serious health problems, and they have all recovered and returned home, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
Health officials warn it is not time to panic about the virus yet. Reovirus is most spread when sneezing and coughing occurs, and it tends to happen more in the cold months. Fever, headaches, difficulty breathing, vomiting and diarrhea etc are the symptoms of this virus.
Professor Tahmina Shirin, the head of IEDCR, said the virus had been detected in the course of some routine research with Columbia University. They were testing samples due to the risk of Nipah virus from drinking raw date juice. Although no Nipah virus was detected, they identified reovirus in five of the samples.
Such a discovery might also give doctors insight into and provide treatments for a type of brain swelling known as encephalitis, which has affected many people in Bangladesh but whose cause doctors had been unable to identify.
Source: Independent News
