Cat-Que virus is not at all perceived as a major public health threat

Several media reports raised alarm about a virus called Cat-Que (CQV) and warned that it ‘can trigger a pandemic in India’ , also calling it ‘Chinese virus’ and that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has warned about the spread of the disease in the country.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

The presence of the Cat Que virus has been largely reported in Culex mosquitoes in China and in pigs in Vietnam.

For CQV, domestic pigs are considered to be the primary mammalian hosts. Antibodies against the virus have been reported in swine reared locally in China, which indicates that the virus has formed a “natural cycle” in the local area and has the ability to spread in pigs and other animal populations through mosquitoes.

CQV belongs to the Simbu serogroup and infects both humans and economically important livestock species.