India fears new deadly outbreak of Nipah virus

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The state authorities of Kerala, in southern India, announced Wednesday that they had identified 311 people likely to have been in contact with the human and four other people with symptoms of the disease. All are under observation and have been ordered not to leave their homes.

"We do not take any risks in this regard and we therefore observe people who have been in contact with the patient even for a short time," said Dr. V. Meenakshi, senior public health official.

The disease resurfaced a year after the outbreak of an epidemic that killed 17 people. More than 230 people were tested during this outbreak, which caused widespread panic in the northern region of Kerala.

However, this time, state officials said they were quickly mobilized to isolate, observe and treat anyone who may have been in contact with the virus.

& # 39; Stay calm & # 39;

At a press conference Tuesday, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said that the 23-year-old man was in an isolation ward at a hospital in Ernakulam district, in central Kerala, and that he is currently in a stable state.

She added that four other people, including two nurses who treated the patient, showed signs of fever – a symptom of the disease – and were subject to strict supervision. All four were transferred to an isolation room but the virus has not yet been officially diagnosed.

"I urge the people of Kerala to stay calm and avoid panic," Shailaja said.

Nipah is a zoonotic virus, which means that it is transmitted from animals to humans and that its death rate among infected people is between 40% and 75%. A Nipah infection may have no symptoms or cause fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), with a range of possible complications that are widespread.
Officials lay a bat in a container after catching it in a well at Changaroth in Kozhikode, in the Indian state of Kerala, on May 21, 2018.

The natural host is a family of bats, Pteropodidae, which can transmit serious disease to farm animals, including pigs. According to the CDC, "transmission of the Nipah virus to humans can occur after direct contact with infected bats, infected pigs, or other persons infected with NiV".

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the first case of the 2018 outbreak was caused by bats found in an unused well in the victim's home.

The first symptoms of the Nipah virus can include headaches and drowsiness, and patients can slip into a coma in a few days, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Acute respiratory syndrome – in which the lungs can not get enough oxygen – and deadly encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain.

The virus was first identified during an outbreak in 1998-1999 in Malaysia, where nearly 300 people were infected and more than 100 died, according to the CDC. More than one million pigs have been euthanized to halt the spread of the disease.

The virus takes its name from the village of Kampung Sungai Nipah in Malaysia, where pig farmers have contracted the disease.

According to the WHO, only a few epidemics have occurred since then, particularly in India and Bangladesh.

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