No fewer than 35 people, all in China, have been found to have the Langya henipavirus or LayV virus, Persecondnews.com gathered on Friday.
The new virus was detected after dozens of people became sick following contacts with animals.
The patients, who are mainly farmers, reported fatigue, cough, loss of appetite and aches, with several people developing blood cells abnormalities and signs of liver and kidney damage.
LayV is from the same family as the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses.
Following a 2018 outbreak of Nipah in the Indian state of Kerala, 17 of the 19 people infected died and the government put Ebola protocols in place to prevent its spread.
However, so far all those found to have contracted LayV have survived, although more research is needed to determine the severity of the disease.
Further investigations are needed to understand the infection better, said the researchers from Beijing, Singapore and Australia who uncovered the virus.
The Centres for Disease Control in Taiwan said it planned to start screening for the virus.
However, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic more tracking systems are now in place and can detect novel pathogens.
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