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Another piece of the puzzle of the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala has fallen into place, with the National Institute of Virology Pune (NIV) confirming that the virus was found in bats frugivores caught in Kozhikode. Of the 51
Pteropus giganteus
bats sampled by the NIV team from the Kozhikode epicenter of the outbreak, 11 had Nipah virus genetic material.
Highly Described
These parts of the viral genome were detected by a test called Transcriptase Transverse Polymerase Chain Reaction. were similar to 99.68% of the virus in patients, said VIN director Devendra T. Mourya
The Hindu
. This clearly indicates that bats were carriers of the Kerala epidemic.
This is an "important discovery, but not unexpected," said Jonathan Epstein, an epidemiologist studying the Nipah virus at the New York EcoHealth Alliance.
The Hindu
. But researchers still do not know how bats have transmitted the infection to humans. This information is necessary to prevent future outbreaks. In Bangladesh, which has experienced several epidemics of Nipah, patients tend to contract infection by drinking raw date palm sap. But the sap of the date palm is not consumed in Kerala.
The new discovery also highlights the urgent need to strengthen surveillance of animal disease reservoirs in India, such as bats and pigs
. in fruit bats in West Bengal and Assam, according to a report released in March
Indian Journal of Medical Research
Expanded Surveillance
For the study, researchers sampled 107 bats from Cooch Behar and Jaipaiguri districts in West Bengal and Dhubri to Assam, all close to Bangladesh, increasing the likelihood of the virus being infected. circulates. They found nine of 107 positive samples for the virus. "This indicates that there are several Indian states with the virus, which means that we need broader surveillance in animals," said Arunkumar Govindakarnavar, a virologist who heads the Manipal Center in New Caledonia. research on the virus. 19659002] Weak viral load
But the researchers warned against killing bats in light of the results of the NIV. In the NIV surveys, the number of virus particles in bats, or viral load, was very low. "Even when the viral load is high, direct transmission of the bat to humans is very rare unless you have a scenario like Bangladesh where people drink palm sap. That's why we had only one case of bat infection in Kozhikode, "said Dr. Arunkumar.
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