A study published on 4 August 2022 was the first to report on human cases and disease emergence [1]. Disease or outbreakLangya henipavirus (LayV) OriginLayV was first detected as a phylogenetically distinct henipavirus in Qingdao, Shandong province, during an active surveillance study conducted between April 2018 -August 2021 in Shandong and Henan provinces, which recruited and monitored patients with acute fever and history of animal exposure [1]. Suspected SourceLayV is reportedly zoonotic, with shrews suspected to be the natural reservoir host [1]. Specifically, LayV was detected in Ussuri (Crocidura lasiura) and Asian lesser (Crocidura shantungensis) whitetoothed shrews (LayV RNA positivity rates of 52.1% and 20.0% respectively) [1].

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This Watching Brief details a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in livestock in Indonesia. The outbreak, first reported in May 2022, is causing significant socioeconomic, animal health and biosecurity concerns in a country that has been FMD-free without vaccination since 1986. Delayed index case notification, difficulties with vaccination (e.g. accessibility issues, waning vaccine immunity and lack of cross-protection), limited understanding of persistent infection in carrier animals and lengthy restocking processes all present challenges for Indonesia in containing and recovering from this FMD outbreak. Thus, despite extensive research, the disease continues to present substantial challenges for outbreak prevention, surveillance and containment, which have important implications considering the widespread global prevalence of FMD and its impact on agriculture and trade in many countries. The socioeconomic burden of the current outbreak in Indonesia on individuals, households and communities is devastating, particularly in poor and rural areas. These impacts will likely continue after the outbreak is over, highlighting the need for co-ordinated support in strengthening outbreak detection and control in FMD-affected and other vulnerable areas.

The most common approach to assessing the optic nerve head (ONH) in the detection and management of glaucoma relies on frontal stereoscopic images acquired by a fundus camera. Subjective clinical assessment of ONH parameters from these images (e.g., cup/disc ratio and cup depth) is limited by the absence of monocular perspective cues normally available in oblique viewing. This study examined whether viewing a rotatable 3D reconstruction of the ONH could improve the accuracy of subjective assessments by increasing linear perspective information. Images were reconstructed from optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the ONH. Trained optometry students assessed the cup/disc (C/D) ratio of ONHs with either a flat stereoscopic display or virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD) with or without dynamic slant control. Dynamic stereoscopic assessment of optic nerve head models in VR resulted in larger estimates of C/D ratio and cup depth compared to static stereoscopic assessments. A follow-up experiment using an external display revealed that relative to static monoscopic viewing, adding either dynamic viewing or stereoscopic viewing to the same display improved subjective estimates of C/D ratio relative to Cirrus HD-OCT defined objective values of C/D ratio. The findings suggest that simply changing the viewing orientation of ONH models improves clinical evaluation of C/D ratio by generating perspective cues to depth without the need for stereo viewing.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A (HPAI) H5N1 was first identified in a farmed goose in 1996 from China. High pathogenic avian influenza viruses cause severe disease in poultry and represent a smaller proportion of avian influenzas). In 2008, the H5Nx acquired the function to reassort its neuraminidase (N) and created the 2.3.4.4 H5Nx clade. Initial outbreaks of 2.3.4.4b began in H5N8 and H5N6 in 2016. However, in 2020, whole genome sequencing (WGS) conducted in the Netherlands detected a new H5N1 clade, 2.3.4.4b in wild birds along the Adriatic flyway, which reassorted from H5N8 2.3.4.4b clade.   Currently, the 2.3.4.4b HPAI H5N1 outbreak is the dominant circulating strain in the panzootic outbreak. This clade has been responsible for large outbreaks within avian species and spillover into human cases has occurred. The earliest reported human case was in 2021. The reported human cases of this clade have been within the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), China, Spain, Vietnam, Ecuador, and Chile.