Deadly bat-borne virus with no treatment is spreading in India with ‘epidemic potential’ as new circumstances emerge
Indian health officials are scrambling to contain a deadly virus after five cases of the incurable disease were detected near one of the country’s biggest cities.
The bat-borne Nipah virus has been identified in West Bengal, close to the state capital Kolkata, India‘s third-most populous city, prompting urgent contact tracing and quarantines.
Authorities confirmed that three new infections were reported this week, according to officials cited by the Press Trust of India news agency.
They include a doctor, a nurse, and a health staff member. Two nurses – one male and one female – had already tested positive earlier.
Both were working at the private Narayana Multispecialty Hospital in Barasat, around 15 miles north of Kolkata.
Narayan Swaroop Nigam, the principal secretary of the department of health and family, said one of the two nurses is in critical condition after both developed high fevers and respiratory issues between New Year’s Eve and January 2, The Telegraph reports.
The critically ill nurse, who is now in a coma, is believed to have contracted the infection while treating a patient suffering from severe respiratory problems.
That patient died before tests could be carried out.
The bat-borne Nipah virus has been identified in West Bengal, close to the state capital Kolkata, India’s third-most populous city, prompting urgent contact tracing and quarantines (stock image)
Authorities confirmed that three new infections were reported this week, according to officials cited by the Press Trust of India news agency (pictured: A health worker wearing protective gear disposes biohazard waste from a Nipah virus isolation center at a goverment hospital in Kozikode, in India’s southern state of Kerala on September 16, 2023)
In response, officials have tested 180 people and quarantined 20 high-risk contacts as fears grow of further spread.
Nipah virus spreads between animals and humans, most commonly from infected bats or pigs, and can also be transmitted from person to person.
Fruit bats, which are widespread across India’s cities and countryside, are the virus’s natural hosts.
In humans, the infection can be symptomless at first but may rapidly develop into acute respiratory illness.
Symptoms include fever, headaches, muscle pain, vomiting, and sore throat, while severe cases can cause brain inflammation, leading to coma within 24 to 48 hours.
The virus has a fatality rate of between 40 and 75 per cent, and there is no treatment or vaccine.
Because of its lethality and epidemic potential, Nipah has been classified as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has called for urgent research and development, including work on animal and human vaccines.
The outbreak comes amid growing concern among experts about zoonotic diseases – those that jump from animals to humans – particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 and SARS pandemics.
Such diseases can spread more easily due to human interference with wildlife and environmental changes.
India has recorded Nipah cases almost every year for more than two decades.
The virus has been linked to dozens of deaths in the southern state of Kerala since it was first detected there in 2018.
Nipah was initially identified in Malaysia and Singapore in 1999, where it infected pig farmers, and has since caused outbreaks in parts of India and Bangladesh.
While the virus is common in some bat species, human infection remains rare, with the most likely source being bats, often through the consumption of contaminated food.
‘Humans being infected with it is rare, with the most likely source from bats caused by eating an infected animal,’ Rajeev Jayadevan, the ex-president of the Indian Medical Association, Cochin, said.
The risk of infection can be reduced by avoiding exposure to pigs and bats and by not drinking raw date palm sap, which may have been contaminated by animals.
Nipah virus does not occur in the UK, and no cases linked to travel have been reported.
