PARIS: Named for the Malaysian village the place it was first recognized, the Nipah virus is an infectious illness transmitted primarily by bats.
Typically deadly, its potential to unfold has thus far been thought-about restricted by scientists.
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore instantly strengthened their border controls.
Whereas each outbreaks have occurred since early 2026 alongside the border between India and Bangladesh, the 2 current clusters aren’t linked, World Well being Organisation Director Common Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on Wednesday.
No different instances have been recognized after tracing greater than 230 contacts.
At this stage, the WHO considers the chance of the virus spreading, each regionally and globally, to be “low”.
Fruit bats
The lethal Nipah virus was first recognized in 1998 throughout an outbreak amongst pig farmers in Malaysia.
Usually transmitted to people by an contaminated animal, normally fruit bats, however typically additionally pigs and even horses, Nipah can even unfold via contaminated meals, or from person-to-person contact.
At present, outbreaks of the Nipah virus are concentrated in South and Southeast Asia. An epidemic was reported in Singapore in 1999, when contaminated pigs have been imported from Malaysia.
In 2001, India and Bangladesh additionally turned the websites of outbreaks, with the previous experiencing periodic outbreaks within the years since — most lately in early 2026.
The Philippines and Singapore have additionally recorded instances.
Respiratory and cerebral signs
Whereas Nipah an infection typically causes no signs, most contaminated people develop sickness after an incubation interval of three to 14 days — typically as much as 45 days.
The preliminary signs — together with fever, chills, sore throat, vomiting — are sometimes nonspecific, however the situation can quickly deteriorate and develop into critical.
Extreme types of the illness may cause critical neurological harm — together with encephalitis, seizures, and even comas — or acute respiratory failure.
Its case fatality price is estimated to be between 40 and 75%, relying on the person case.
Survivors, for his or her half, usually get well utterly. For about one in 5, nonetheless, neurological after-effects persist, which might typically be debilitating.
Low transmissibility, excessive mortality
In contrast to many respiratory viruses, equivalent to Covid-19, the virus shouldn’t be simply transmitted from one human to a different.
It requires shut and extended contact with respiratory secretions or bodily fluids from an contaminated particular person.
In India, current instances have thus affected healthcare employees, and people who had been in touch with these sufferers have been positioned in quarantine.
Every contaminated particular person usually infects fewer than one different particular person, which limits the unfold however doesn’t forestall outbreaks.
However when this illness strikes, it’s typically deadly. And the WHO considers Nipah to be a high-risk pathogen.
No therapy, no vaccine
At present, there is no such thing as a particular antiviral therapy or vaccine for the Nipah virus. Docs can solely deal with the signs.
A number of vaccine candidates are presently being studied or are in improvement, most of them focusing on proteins on the floor of the virus which might be mandatory for its entry into human cells and its unfold all through the physique.
To cut back the chance of an infection and transmission, prevention depends totally on adapting behaviours: keep away from consuming uncooked palm sap, wash and peel fruit, keep away from fruit that has fallen to the bottom or exhibits indicators of bites, and restrict contact with sick bats and animals.
Some nations additionally display screen travellers arriving from affected areas.
In the meantime, an Indian well being employee who contracted the lethal Nipah virus in December has died, a senior well being official from the jap state of West Bengal stated on Thursday.
The girl, a nurse, was one in all two folks within the state who have been contaminated and was being handled at a neighborhood hospital, Reuters reported final month.
“The girl … who was essential, died attributable to cardiac arrest,” Well being Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam instructed Reuters.
With further enter from Reuters
