A rare virus carried by fruit bats may have just started to spread in India

• The southern state of Kerala has been hit by the Nipah virus.
• There have been nine deaths in Kerala’s Kozhikode due to high fever, and at least three have been caused by the virus.
  
• The Union Health Ministry has sent a team to assist virus hit regions in Kerala.

Nipah is on the World Health Organization's list of viruses most likely to cause a global pandemic. It's the virus that inspired the 2011 movie Contagion. And just this past January, governments and philanthropists pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a Nipah vaccine because it poses such a big threat.

The Nipah virus, one of the most deadly viruses on the World Health Organization list, has hit Kerala. The state health department has confirmed three deaths to be caused by Nipah virus in Kerala’s Kozhikode. At least nine people in Kozhikode died due to high fever, says a report.

What is Nipah virus? How does it spread?

The Nipah virus is carried by fruit bats, of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus, and was first identified during an outbreak in Kampung Sungai Nipah in Malaysia in 1998. The virus can cause diseases to human beings and animals. The disease can be transmitted both from animal-human and human-human contact.

The virus can spread to humans through food contaminated by bat saliva or urine. India has had two reported outbreaks of Nipah virus, both the times in West Bengal, once in 2001 and then in 2007. The total death toll during the outbreaks was fifty of the seventy-one reported cases. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the fatality rate of the virus is 75% on an average.

Symptoms of Nipah virus-affected patients:

After the exposure, the virus has an incubation period of 5-14 days.
Here are the symptoms of Nipah virus-affected patients:

• 3-14 days of fever
• Drowsiness
• Disorientation and mental confusion
• Respiratory illness

Long-term effects of Nipah virus on affected humans:

• Inflammation of the brain
• Nervous diseases
• Persistent convulsions and personality changes.
• Latent infection and reactivation of Nipah virus.

Prevention

The only way of prevention is to stay away from infected animals and not to eat fruits that have fallen to the ground as they might have been infected by the virus.

Cure and Treatments

The virus, as of now, does not have a cure. The primary treatment for humans is intensive care.

Nipah virus in Kerala

With the confirmation of Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, and it leading to three deaths in Kozhikode, the Union Health Ministry has sent a team of experts to assist the state. In the past, the outbreaks were caused due to the disease transmission due to contacts from infected bats, pigs and people.

Out of the three victims of Nipah virus, two are men and the third is a woman. The two men were brothers and the woman, a relative who visited them in hospital, said a report on NDTV.

People suspected to be affected by the virus are currently being monitored at the Kozhikode Medical College and a few other hospitals.