OH, GOODY: New Virus Found in Blood Supply — But Don’t Freak Out Just Yet.

It looks a little like the hepatitis C virus, which can cause permanent liver damage, and a little like the human pegivirus, which appears to be harmless, the team reports in the journal mBio.

They’ve named it human hepegivirus-1 (HHpgV-1).

“We have been able to find a new virus. It’s clearly transmitted as a result of human (blood) transfusion,” said infectious disease expert Dr. Ian Lipkin, who oversaw the study team at Columbia University.

“It is the first transfusion-associated virus that’s been described in a long time. We don’t know if it is going to be a significant cause of human hepatitis,” Lipkin told NBC News.

But probably not, the researchers said.

“So far there is no need to be concerned,” said Amit Kapoor, an assistant professor at Columbia University who led the study.

“We really don’t know if there is ongoing transmission of this virus. It may be good for you.”

Lipkin agreed.

“I’m not really worried about this particular virus,” he said. “This is not SARS. This is not MERS. This is not HIV.”

To find it, the team sampled blood banked at the National Institutes of Health from 46 volunteers between 1974 and 1980. They found it in two samples. Both patients appear to have “cleared” the virus and there is no evidence it caused any disease.

Well, good.