India battling to keep Nipah virus under control as bug spreads after death of 12-year-old boy
INDIAN authorities are scrambling to keep the Nipah virus under control after the disease killed a 12-year-old boy.
Officials in India's southern Kerala state are racing to contain the deadly virus after new infections were confirmed over the weekend.
The government has stepped up contact tracing efforts with 188 people who came into contact with the young boy having already been identified, Kerala's health minister Veena George said in Monday.
Some 20 contacts are considered high-risk because they are family members and are under strict quarantine or in hospital.
Two healthcare workers who nursed the boy are already showing symptoms of Nipah and were admitted to hospital and are having blood tests done.
Indian authorities have also sealed off a two-miles radius around the boy's home and were screening people for symptoms in neighbouring states, including Tamil Nadu, which is on high alert.
This is the second time in three years that a Nipah outbreak has been reported in Kerala, which is also experiencing a devastating rate of Covid-19 infections - around 68 per cent of India's 40,000 new, daily cases, according to .
DISEASE X
It comes as health officials frantically investigate the 12-year-old boy's death amid fears from scientists the contagious bug could one day trigger a pandemic dubbed "The Big One".
Indian authorities have however insisted there is no need for panic as they continue to investigate the case.
Most read in News
Kerala health minister Veena George said the infection was confirmed by the National Institute of Virology (NIV) on Saturday.
The boy was admitted to the hospital with a heavy fever last week before his condition then worsened over the weekend and he died.
Experts have previously warned it is a prime candidate to potentially trigger a pandemic - with symptoms such as severe brain swelling, vomiting and seizures.
George told : "We had a meeting with the ministers from the district along with concerned officials about the Nipah virus. A team will be formed to handle the situation."
George added: "As of now, there is no need to panic, but we need to exercise caution.
"The patient was first taken to a private hospital, then to the medical college and from there again shifted to a private hospital. So we have traced all his contacts.
"The friends he played within his locality, his cousins and others, the health department had completed the identification and tracing of all these contacts."
Medics are now carrying out contact tracing for anyone who may have had contact with the boy over the last 12 days.
Dr Rebecca Dutch, chair of the University of Kentucky's department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry and a world a leader in the study of viruses, previously told The SUn that although there are no current Nipah outbreaks in the world, they occur periodically and it is “extremely likely” we will see more.
She told us: “Nipah is one of the viruses that could absolutely be the cause of a new pandemic. Several things about Nipah are very concerning.
“Many other viruses in that family (like measles) transmit well between people, so there is concern that a Nipah variant with increased transmission could arise.
“The mortality rate for this virus is between 45% and 75% depending on the outbreak – so this is much higher than Covid-19. Nipah has been shown to transmit through food, as well as via contact with human or animal excretions.
“The incubation period for Nipah can be quite long, and it can be unclear if transmission can occur during this time.”
Dr Jonathan Epstein, vice president for science and outreach at the EcoHealth Alliance, explained how they are tracking the Nipah virus and are worried about its potential.
He told us: “We know very little about the genetic variety of Nipah-related viruses in bats, and what we don’t want to happen is for a strain to emerge that is more transmissible among people.
“So far, Nipah is spread among close contact with an infected person, particularly someone with respiratory illness through droplets, and we generally don’t see large chains of transmission.
“However, given enough opportunity to spread from bats to people, and among people, a strain could emerge that is better adapted to spreading among people.
“This is a zoonotic virus knocking on the door, and we have to really work now to understand where human cases are occurring, and try to reduce opportunities for a spillover, so that it never gets the chance to adapt to humans."
This comes as Dr Melanie Saville, director of vaccine research and development at CEPI, previously warned The Sun Online the world needs to be prepared for the next "big one".
She told The Sun Online: "Most crucially we shouldn't just be looking at Nipah.
"We know that a future pandemic is inevitable, and there are many other emerging infectious diseases that are recognised as having pandemic potential.
"This includes known disease threats, like influenza, as well as new or as-of-yet identified pathogens, known as ‘Disease X’."
What is Nipah Virus?
Like Covid, Nipah is a zoonotic virus, meaning it is transmitted from animals to humans.
Transmission typically occurs when humans come into direct contact with a infected animal or through consuming contaminated food.
A high number of human-to-human transmission cases have also been reported.
Fruit bats of the family Ptetropodidae - commonly known as the "flying fox" - are natural carriers of Nipah and are known to transmit the virus to other animals including pigs, dogs, cats, goats, horses and sheep.
An infected person will typically show symptoms such as fever and headache for anywhere between three days and two weeks, followed by a cough, sore throat and respiratory issues.
This can then progress into brain swelling, leading to drowsiness, confusion, then coma and possibly death.
There is no cure or vaccine for Nipah yet, and patients are only given support medicines.
According to the World Health Organisation, up to 75 per cent of Nipah infections prove fatal. The mortality rate for Covid, by comparison, is believed to be around 2 per cent.
A NEXT BIG THREAT?
The deadly virus was first discovered in Malaysia in 1998 during an outbreak among pig farmers.
Since then, outbreaks have occurred across Southeast Asia and is known to have killed more than 260 people, CBS News reports.
A 2004 Bangladesh outbreak was traced back to people consuming date palm sap that had been contaminated by infected fruit bats.
The last outbreak in India, which hit Kerala in 2018, killed 17 of the 18 people who caught it. All cases were traced back to fruit bats found dead in the water of a family's well.
Nipah is considered less contagious than Covid but has a much higher mortality rate and a longer incubation period of up to 45 days.
Its ability to infect a much wider variety of animals makes Nipah a serious concern for epidemiologists trying to predict and prevent the next pandemic.
Veasna Duoing, head of Institut Pasteur research lab in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said the close proximity of bats and humans in crowded places across Asia poses a massive risk to public health.
He told the : "This kind of exposure might allow the virus to mutate, which might cause a pandemic.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
"We observe [fruit bats] here and in Thailand, in markets, worship areas, schools and tourist locations like Angkor Wat – there's a big roost of bats there.
"In a normal year, Angkor Wat hosts 2.6 million visitors. That's 2.6 million opportunities for Nipah virus to jump from bats to humans annually in just one location."
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun news desk?
Email us at [email protected] or call 02077824104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours