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Deadly Nipah virus outbreak hits southern India
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An outbreak of Nipah virus in India has infected at least 15 people and killed at least 13, according to WHO.
The outbreak is occurring in Kerala, on India’s southwestern coast. Three initial deaths occurred in the same family and a fourth involved a nurse who was taking care of an infected patient, WHO said. Dozens of people have reportedly been quarantined, according to local reports.
Health officials in India said that bats taken from a well where the family drew water have been collected for testing.
An emerging zoonotic disease, Nipah virus was first identified in the late 1990s in Malaysia. In addition to direct contact with infected bats, people can also acquire the virus through contact with pigs or people, or through consumption of raw date palm sap contaminated with infectious bat excretions, according to the CDC.
India experienced outbreaks of Nipah virus in 2001 and 2007 in the state of West Bengal, bordering Bangladesh, a country that frequently sees outbreaks. According to WHO, the Indian outbreaks had a combined fatality rate of 70%. In an earlier outbreak in Malaysia, around 40% of patients who were hospitalized with a serious nervous disease died, the CDC reported.
Daniel R. Lucey, MD, MPH, adjunct professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown University Hospital and research associate in anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, said the current outbreak is occurring in an area of India that has not previously seen cases.
“It’s very worrisome, especially since there is person-to-person spread in a new place,” Lucey told Infectious Disease News. “The only time there have been outbreaks in India in the past is far, far to the north, near Bangladesh. So it’s a really big deal.”
Nipah virus is associated with encephalitis. According to the CDC, after an incubation period of up to 14 days, early symptoms include fever, headache, drowsiness, disorientation and mental confusion, and the condition can progress to coma within 1 to 2 days. – by Gerard Gallagher
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the most recent case count from WHO.
Disclosure: Lucey reports no relevant financial disclosures.