A veterinary doctor from Beijing who was China’s first human to be infected with Monkey B virus (BV) had died.

The veterinarian, who worked for an institution researching on non-human primates, reportedly contracted the virus while dissecting two animals.

The 53-year-old male vet had sought treatment in several hospitals, and eventually died on May 27, the state-run Global Times reported on Saturday, citing English Platform of Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here is all you need to know:

• The vet showed early-onset symptoms of nausea and vomiting, a month after he dissected two dead monkeys in early March.
• Those who came in close contact with him are safe from it, for now.
• The vet’s case marks the first human infection case with BV identified in China. There were no fatal or even clinically evident BV infections in China before.
• The vet was tested positive for BV after researchers collected his cerebrospinal fluid in April. However, samples of his close contacts suggested negative results for the virus.
• Monkey B virus has a fatality rate of 70 per cent to 80 per cent.
• The virus, initially isolated in 1932, is an alphaherpesvirus enzootic in macaques of the genus Macaca.
• The virus can be transmitted through direct contact and exchange of bodily secretions.
• BV in monkeys might pose a potential threat to occupational workers, the journal suggested.
• It is necessary to eliminate BV during the development of specific pathogen-free rhesus colonies and to strengthen surveillance in laboratory macaques and occupational workers in China, the report said.