Public health agencies and border officials are on high alert following an outbreak of the rare but potentially deadly virus in West Bengal, India, The Washington Post reported.
What is going on?
Two cases of the Nipah virus have been confirmed, according to a statement from the Indian Ministry of Health on Tuesday reviewed by the Post.
Nipah virus outbreaks occur cyclically in South Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly in Bangladesh.
A November study in the Journal of Infection and Public Health described the virus as a “significant threat to public health,” attributing the pathogen’s prevalence in Bangladesh to the consumption of raw date palm sap tainted by fruit bats.
Nipah virus is a zoonotic disease transmitted from animals to humans, with bats and pigs as the most common vectors of transmission.
Worryingly, the Nipah virus case fatality rate — the rate of deaths in proportion to the number of total cases — is estimated at between 40% and “75% or higher,” according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Indian Ministry of Health contact tracing identified 196 individuals who may have been in close contact with the two sick individuals, all of whom were asymptomatic and tested negative.
Why is this outbreak concerning?
As the Independent warned, the World Health Organization has considered the Nipah virus a “priority pathogen”, citing the credible possibility that an outbreak could “trigger an epidemic.”
The WHO further indicated that there is neither a vaccine nor a known treatment for Nipah virus cases, leaving medical professionals with only “intensive supportive care”, according to the UK’s Health Security Agency.
According to the WHO, outbreaks of the Nipah virus can have devastating indirect effects, make livestock sick, and “result in significant economic losses for farmers.”
In August, Inside Climate News reported that trials for a potential Nipah virus vaccine were expected to begin in Bangladesh, but warned that “just because the virus is rare now doesn’t mean it always will be.”
The outlet referred to a 2012 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on the trajectory of the Nipah virus.
In the third section of the study, the researchers strongly emphasized the role that a warming world plays in the spread of vector-borne diseases, using the Nipah virus as an example.
As Inside Climate News noted, higher temperatures could expand the range of disease vectors such as fruit bats and mosquitoes, increasing the incidence of once-rare diseases.
What is being done about it?
While no known treatments existed, officials on the ground appeared to take the Nipah virus outbreak seriously.
“We have specifically intensified surveillance at border points in Koshi Province. Health checks have also been ordered for people entering Nepal through other border crossings,” said Nepal’s health minister, Dr. Prakash Budhathoki, according to the Himalayan Times.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices — and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD’s exclusive Rewards Club.