Henipaviruses at the threshold: preparedness in the era of recurrent spillover

Xinyu Wang, Wenhong Zhang · 2026

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Description

Wang and Zhang argue that henipaviruses sit on a threshold, dangerous yet not quite able to sustain spread. Their 2026 Emerging Microbes and Infections commentary covers a virus family known for repeated spillovers from animals, severe disease, and limited person-to-person transmission. Nipah and Hendra are its best-known members.

Growing viral diversity and widening contact between wildlife, livestock, and people keep producing episodic outbreaks. The authors say outbreak counting alone misleads preparedness for such irregular, high-consequence pathogens. They urge combined human, animal, and environment surveillance under a One Health approach. They also want adaptive trial designs and ready-to-test countermeasures, so vaccines and drugs can be judged quickly when the next spillover comes.

Catalog record

CREATORXinyu Wang, Wenhong Zhang
YEAR2026
COLLECTIONPAPERS
FORMATTXT
FILE SIZE12 KB
VERSION1.0
LICENSECC BY 4.0
RIGHTSCC BY
SOURCEEurope PMC

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13250879

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