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Nipah virus has a high mortality rate – ranging from 40% to 75% – with no medicine or vaccine available to treat it. After cases were detected in West Bengal, Thailand began screening fliers from the state at three international airports in Bangkok and Phuket
Nipah virus: Several airports in Asia, including Thailand, Nepal have stepped up screening measures after cases of the deadly Nipah virus were reported in West Bengal in India.
Till date, two confirmed cases of Nipah Virus Disease have been reported from West Bengal since December last year, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday, citing reports received from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The virus has a high mortality rate – ranging from 40% to 75% – with no medicine or vaccine available to treat it. This means that out of every 100 people who are infected by Nipah virus, around 40-70 people could die.
Health declarations; ‘Category 5 disease’
On Sunday, 25 January, Thailand began screening fliers from West Bengal at three international airports in Bangkok and Phuket. Passengers from flights incoming from Bengal have been asked to make health declarations, reported BBC.
Meanwhile, health authorities in Taiwan have proposed to list the Nipah virus as a "Category 5 disease". Under the island's system, diseases classified as Category 5 are emerging or rare infections with major public health risks, that require immediate reporting and special control measures.
‘Highly infectious, fatal’
AIIMS Bilaspur president Professor Dr Narendra Kumar Arora also highlighted the serious public health risks posed by the Nipah virus, describing it as a highly infectious and fatal zoonotic disease – meaning it spreads from animals to humans.
“Nipah virus is highly infectious and fatal. Patients either develop symptoms of encephalitis or severe respiratory disease. The mortality rate ranges between 40 and 75 per cent, which is very high,” news wire PTI quoted Arora as saying.
How does Nipah virus spread?
People can get infected with Nipah virus if they come in close contact with body fluids of an infected person, or via direct contact with infected animals – like bats or pigs, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are believed to be the natural host of the Nipah virus, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO).
No cases in China
No Nipah virus infections have been detected in China, but there are risks of imported cases, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday, citing the disease control authority.
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