2023-09-20 01:58:11
Indian authorities announced this week that they are trying to contain an epidemic of Nipah (NiV), a rare virus transmitted from animals to humans that causes a severe fever with a high mortality rate.
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The Asian nation is experiencing its fourth outbreak in just five years, so the Ministry of Health has taken strong measures to stop its spread, such as closing schools and offices, as happened with covid-19; and reinforce medical assistance in the most affected areas. This is what is known about the disease that has already left two dead in the Kerala region.
What is Nipah virus?
The first Nipah epidemic was recorded in 1998 after the virus spread among pig farmers in Malaysia. The virus is named after the town in this Southeast Asian country where it was discovered.
Epidemics of this virus are rare, in fact it has only caused some outbreaks in Asia that have not spread globally.
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How is Nipah virus transmitted?
This virus is usually transmitted to humans through contaminated animals or food, but it can also be spread directly between humans.
Fruit bats, natural carriers of the virus, have been identified as the most likely cause of subsequent epidemics.
What has the WHO said about Nipah?
The Nipah virus was classified by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with Ebola, Zika and Covid-19, as one of the diseases to be investigated as a priority due to its potential to cause a pandemic.
To date, the organization collaborates with Asian countries to control outbreaks.
What are your symptoms?
Symptoms include headache and sore throat; high fever, cough, dizziness, drowsiness, disorientation, vomiting and respiratory infection.
More severe cases can be characterized by seizures, inflammation of the airways and brain (encephalitis) leading to a period of coma between 24 and 48 hours.
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Does Nipah virus have a vaccine?
There is no vaccine against Nipah. Patients suffer a mortality rate of between 40% and 75%, according to the World Health Organization.
Countries such as Australia and France are investigating the development of an injectable against this virus.
What were previous Nipah epidemics like?
The first Nipah epidemic left 100 dead in Malaysia and a million pigs were slaughtered to contain the virus.
It also spread in Singapore, with 11 cases and one death among slaughterhouse workers who were in contact with pigs imported from Malaysia.
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Since then, the disease was detected mainly in Bangladesh and India, which recorded their first epidemics in 2001. Bangladesh was the most affected country in recent years, with more than 100 deaths since 2001.
Two epidemics in India left more than 50 dead before being controlled.
The southern state of Kerala has recorded two deaths from Nipah and four other confirmed cases since last August, the fourth outbreak in five years.
Does Nipah increase transmission from animals to humans?
Zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans that appeared thousands of years ago, have multiplied in the last 20 to 30 years.
The development of international travel allowed for a more rapid spread. Occupying increasingly large areas of the planet, humans are disrupting ecosystems and increasing the likelihood of random viral mutations transmissible to humans, experts say.
Industrial livestock farming increases the risk of pathogens spreading between animals, and deforestation increases contact between wildlife, domestic animals and humans, which will favor the emergence of new diseases transmissible to humans.
According to estimates published in the journal Science in 2018, there are 1.7 million unknown viruses in mammals and birds, of which between 540,000 and 850,000 are capable of infecting humans.
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