Health authorities in India are scrambling Thursday to contain an outbreak of the Nipah virus that has already killed two people and has a fatality rate of up to 75%, according to the World Health Organization.
According to Portal, around 800 people have been tested in the southern state of Kerala in recent days, with two adults and a child hospitalized after a positive diagnosis.
“We are testing people … and at the same time experts are collecting fluid samples from forest areas that could be the hotspot for the spread,” Veena George, the state’s health secretary, told the news agency. “We are in a phase of hypervigilance and detection.”
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Public offices, government buildings and religious facilities were closed in parts of the region as samples of bat urine, animal feces and half-eaten fruit were collected from the village where the first victim lived, Portal also reported.
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Health workers in protective gear bring people who have been in contact with a person infected with the Nipah virus to an isolation center at a government hospital in Kozikode, Kerala state, India, on Thursday, September 14. (AFP via Getty Images)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes the Nipah virus as zoonotic – meaning it can be transmitted from animals to people – and that flying foxes are the main vectors of the virus in nature.
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“Nipah virus is also known to cause disease in pigs and humans,” the CDC says, adding that “infection with NiV is associated with encephalitis (swelling of the brain), mild to severe illness, and even death can cause.”
The World Health Organization states that the mortality rate of Nipah virus is estimated to be between 40 and 75%, but that it “may vary across outbreaks, depending on local capabilities for epidemiological surveillance and clinical management.”
“Infected people initially develop symptoms such as fever, headache, myalgia (muscle pain), vomiting and sore throat,” the WHO also said. “This may be followed by dizziness, drowsiness, changes in consciousness and neurological symptoms suggestive of acute encephalitis. Some people may also experience atypical pneumonia and severe breathing problems, including acute shortness of breath. In severe cases, encephalitis and seizures occur, progressing to coma over 24 to 48 hours.”
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Residents put up a sign reading “Nipah Containment Zone” in the Indian state of Kerala on Wednesday to prevent the spread of the Nipah virus. (Portal)
According to the CDC, the virus is transmitted through direct contact with infected animals or people and their body fluids or through consumption of food contaminated by animals.
“Treatment is limited to supportive measures, including rest, fluid resuscitation, and treatment of symptoms that occur,” the CDC says.
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Staff install a sign reading “Nipah Isolation Ward, Entry Strictly Prohibited” at a hospital in Kozhikode district in the Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday. (Portal)
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A series of Nipah virus outbreaks in India and Bangladesh killed 62 people in 2001 and 21 in the Indian state of Kerala in 2018, Portal reports.