New virus discovered in Alabama raises pandemic fears | 4 Feb 2025 | A potentially deadly virus has been detected in the United States for the first time ever. Scientists identified the Camp Hill virus in shrews in Alabama, sparking fears it could find its way through animal reservoirs to humans and cause a potentially wide-reaching outbreak. The Camp Hill virus belongs to a family of pathogens called henipaviruses, including the Nipah virus, a bat-borne virus that kills up to 70 percent of people it infects. The Camp Hill virus, however, has never been recorded in humans and scientists don't know what symptoms are or the death rate. The closest virus to Camp Hill that's infected humans is the Langya virus, which crossed from shrews to humans in China. [Do not comply.]