Nipah resurfaces in Kerala, India
Health officials in Kerala state, on the Malabar Coast of India, report two additional Nipah virus cases in the state— An 18-year-old girl who succumbed to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in Kozhikode two days ago and a 38-year-old woman currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital at Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district.
They were confirmed by the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.
There are a total of 425 people, including healthcare workers, on the Nipah contact list in state, said health minister Veena George on Saturday—which include 228 in Malappuram, 110 in Palakkad and 87 in Kozhikode district.
Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging and serious viral zoonotic disease that carries with it a high case fatality rate (in the ballpark of 70% or more).
NiV is an enveloped RNA virus and along with Hendra virus make up the Henipahviruses.
Bangladesh reports 3 Nipah virus deaths
The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus.
It was first recognized in a large outbreak in Kampung Sungai Nipah, Malaysia and Singapore from Sep 1998 – May 1999.
276 cases were reported, the vast majority (93%) being pig farmers or people who had contact with pigs. The disease presented as encephalitis and four out 10 people died.
It is theorized that the pigs got infected consuming partially bat-eaten fruit that ended up in a pigsty. Pigs were the intermediate host in this case; however, subsequent outbreaks had no intermediate hosts.
No new outbreaks have been reported in Malaysia since 1999.
The outbreaks since the initial one in Malaysia (Bangladesh and India) have been linked to two possible routes of transmission—consumption of raw date palm sap that had been contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats and strong evidence points to human-to-human transmission (close physical contact, especially contact with body fluids).