WHO sees low risk of Nipah virus outbreak spreading beyond India, says ‘no evidence…’

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that the risk of the deadly Nipah virus spreading from India is low. It also stated that it does not recommend any travel or trade restrictions following the two reported infections in the country, as reported by Reuters.

Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are among the Asian locations that tightened airport screening checks this week to guard against such a spread after India confirmedinfections, the report stated.

“The WHO considers the risk of further spread of infection from these two cases is low,” the agency told Reuters in an email on Friday, adding that India had the capacity to contain such outbreaks.

"There is no evidence yet of increased human-to-human transmission," it said, adding that it has coordinated with Indian health authorities.

But it did not rule out further exposure to the virus, which circulates in the bat population in parts of India and neighbouring Bangladesh.

Carried by fruit bats and animals such as pigs, the virus can cause fever and brain inflammation. It has a fatality rate ranging from 40% to 75%, with no cure, though vaccines in development are still being tested.

It spreads to humans from infected bats, or fruit they contaminate, but person-to-person transmission is not easy, as it typically requires prolonged contact with those infected, Reuters reported.

Small outbreaks are not unusual and virologists say the risk to the general population remains low.

The source of infection was not yet fully understood, said the WHO.

Nipah is designated a priority pathogen due to the absence of approved vaccines or treatments, its high fatality rate, and concerns that it could mutate into a more easily transmissible form.

India continues to report occasional Nipah virus infections, especially in Kerala in the south. Kerala is considered one of the world’s highest-risk areas for the virus, which has been linked to dozens of deaths since it first appeared there in 2018.

“The outbreak is the seventh documented in India and the third in West Bengal, where outbreaks in 2001 and 2007 were in districts bordering Bangladesh, which reports outbreaks almost annually,” the WHO said.

(With inputs from Reuters)