One more confirmed case of Nipah virus case has been reported in Kerala.
Key Points On Nipah Virus
- India is on high alert after a resurgence of the potentially deadly Nipah virus (NiV), which has killed at least two people in recent days and sparked the testing of hundreds more in southern Kerala state.
- It’s the third time in five years that the virus has surfaced in the Kozhikode district of Kerala. In a 2018 outbreak, 21 people died before it was contained.
- An estimated 40% to 75% of infected patients die from the virus, with the mortality rate varying from outbreak to outbreak.
- So far the virus has been confined to Asian countries: India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines
What Is Nipah Virus?
- Nipah is a zoonotic virus — meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans
- It can cause a severe respiratory infection and attack the brain
- The organism that causes Nipah Virus encephalitis is an RNA or Ribonucleic acid virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus, and is closely related to Hendra virus.
- Nipah virus was first identified during a 1998-1999 outbreak in Malaysia,
- The disease is named after a village in Malaysia, Sungai Nipah, where it was first detected.
- While no new infections have occurred in either location, there have been periodic flare-ups in Bangladesh and India since 2001.
Transmission Of Nipah Virus
- The Malaysian outbreak is believed to have been caused by the virus spreading from infected pigs to humans.
- But in India and Bangladesh, the most likely transmission path is thought to be from the consumption of fruit products — such as date palm sap — contaminated by the urine or saliva of infected fruit bats
Symptoms Of Nipah Virus
- Symptoms usually begin with a fever and headache, often accompanied by signs of respiratory illness like a cough or sore throat
- They may appear any time within two weeks of exposure to the virus.
- The infection can worsen, leading to disorientation, seizures and encephalitis — a swelling of the brain — which may put patients into a coma within 24 to 48 hours
How Is Nipah Virus Treated?
- There are no Nipah vaccines available for humans or animals, nor are there any effective treatments other than supportive care.
- Researchers are currently developing monoclonal antibodies — immunotherapeutic drugs that would directly fight the virus, but no licensed treatments are yet available
- In the case of the Kerala outbreak, authorities are using patient contact tracing in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.
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