Any news of an outbreak of a virus can bring many of us back to 2020, when the then novel coronavirus sparked a years-long pandemic.
India has seen a rise in confirmed cases of the rare, brain-damaging virus, even prompting neighbouring countries to bring back health checks.
Now with ‘Nipah virus’ in the headlines, should people in the UK be worried?
Metro spoke with several health experts to find out.
What is the Nipah virus?
The Nipah virus lives in fruit bats across South and Southeast Asia.
It spreads to humans through contact with the animals’ bodily fluids, such as eating fruit or sap contaminated with the bats’ urine or saliva.
There is evidence it can infect other animals, including pigs, dogs, cats, goats, horses and sheep.
The virus was first identified during an outbreak in 1998 among pig farmers in Malaysia, where it killed over 100 people.
Dr Kaja Abbas, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that sporadic outbreaks of the virus have happened since 2001 in Bangladesh and India.
‘In addition to zoonotic transmission from animals such as fruit bats to humans, human-to-human transmission and transmission from contaminated fruit products (such as date palm juice) to humans also occur,’ he added.
Symptoms can develop between four and 21 days after infection. They include flu-like symptoms, such as fevers, body aches and vomiting.
Over time, however, it can cause respiratory syndrome and encephalitis, or brain inflammation.
Between 45% and 70% the people who are infected die. There is no vaccine and no cure.
About 20% of survivors suffer neurological effects, such as seizures or personality changes, according to the World Health Organization.
Where is the virus now?
Only in West Bengal, the fourth most populous state in India.
Two laboratory-confirmed cases of Nipah have been seen – two nurses employed at the same private hospital in Barasat, Katoya.
Health experts in India have been repeatedly stressing that it’s only these two confirmed cases amid reports that there were five.
The nurses – a man and a woman, both 25 – began feeling unwell in December, before their conditions spiralled and they were taken to emergency care.
The man is recovering while the woman remains in a coma.
Indian health officials aren’t sure how the pair became infected, but suspect they may have had date palm sap while visiting the village of Ghughragachhi.
Nearly 200 people who were in contact with the patients have been tested for the virus – all came back negative, the WHO said.
Around 100 people were briefly quarantined in a hospital.
The WHO said today: ‘India has demonstrated its capacity to manage Nipah outbreaks during previous events and recommended public health measures are being implemented jointly by national and state health teams.
‘At this time, there is no evidence of increased human-to-human transmission.’
Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan are now monitoring passengers for Nipah virus symptoms.
Some airports are screening travellers before they can enter the main terminals, while others are handing out ‘Health Beware Cards’ to passengers upon landing.
Could Nipah virus lead to a global lockdown in future?
No need to stock up on toilet roll just yet – the Nipah virus has never even been reported in the UK before.
Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading, said that the Nipah virus is very different from the coronavirus.
He said: ‘Following Covid, any new virus is treated with alarm – could it become pandemic? – but for Nipah this cannot happen as the virus does not transmit by air and has never shown any sign of doing so.’
WHO considers Nipah as a possible epidemic candidate, a regional outbreak of an illness that spreads unexpectedly.
A pandemic, however, is a disease that spreads worldwide.
Dr Efstathios Giotis, a lecturer in life sciences at the University of Essex, stressed that Nipah outbreaks have always been ‘geographically limited’.
‘At present, the Nipah virus does not pose a risk to the UK,’ Dr Giotis said.
‘While viruses can change over time, Nipah does not currently spread easily between humans, which makes a global pandemic unlikely.
‘Ongoing surveillance, rapid outbreak response, and strong public health systems remain key to keeping the risk low.’
What is the UK’s current guidance around Nipah virus?
The UK Health Security Agency updated its Nipah virus guidance yesterday.
Agency officials stress that this isn’t a sign that people should panic – it’s just always a good idea to understand what a virus is.
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No cases have been found in the UK.
There is no mention of Nipah virus in the Foreign Office’s travel advice for India.
To travellers, the UKHSA recommends people:
- Avoid contact with bats and their environments, especially sick bats
- Don’t consume raw or partially fermented date palm sap – always boil date palm juice first
- Wash all fruit thoroughly with clean water and peel before eating
- Wear protective clothing and gloves when handling sick animals and during slaughter and culling procedures
- Practice good hand hygiene.
The agency stresses that the risk for tourists visiting endemic countries is ‘very low’ if safety recommendations are followed.
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