Nipah Virus Outbreak
Table of Contents
1 History
Nipah Virus (NiV) first came to light in 1998 after an outbreak in Kampung Sungai Nipah, Malaysia. The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, but on this occasion pigs acted as the intermediate hosts. In subsequent outbreaks there have been no intermediate hosts.
It spreads from animals to humans. Transmisssion from humans to other humans has also been documented in a hospital setting. Other animals are also affected by this Virus.
So in a nutshell, the ways it can spread are:
- From bats to humans
- From pigs/other animal carrier to humans
- Eating fruits bitten by infected bats
- Contact with infected people
The source of the 2004 Bangladesh outbreak was consumption of date palms which had been infected by fruit bats.
2 Symptoms
The infection manifests itself in a variety of symptoms that can range from mere asymptomatic infections to acute respiratory syndrome leading to encephalitis. The course of treatment adopted is to keep the patient in intensive care and provide treatment based on specific symptoms.
General symptoms are sudden fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting. Neck rigidity, photophobia are also seen sometimes.
There is no vaccine for either humans or animals.
3 Diagnosis
Done using ELISA (Enzyme Link Immuno Sorbent Assay) test at National Institute of Virology, Pune.