Haryana Govt issues advisory on Nipah virus

In the wake of Nipah virus ( NiV) outbreak in Kerala, Haryana Government on Thursday issued an advisory on the deadly infection.

While atleast 12 people have died in Kerala due to Nipah virus, two people are suspected to be infected with it are under treatment in Karnataka.

The authorities in Himachal Pradesh have also sounded an alert in the state after eight dead bats were found inside a government school in Sirmaur district’s Nahan town, a day before.

“NiV is a highly pathogenic paramyxo virus and large fruit bats of Pteropus genus are the natural reservoir of NiV. Presumably, pig may become infected after consumption of partially bat eaten fruits that dropped in pigsty,” said a spokesman of Haryana Health Department.

He said that seasonality was strongly implicated in NiV outbreaks in Bangladesh and India. All of the outbreaks occurred during the months of winter to spring between Decembers to May and the incubation period varies from 6 to 21 days.

While referring to the mode of transmission, he said that two routes of transmission of Nipah virus have been identified from its natural reservoir to human i.e. drinking of raw date palm sap contaminated with NiV and close physical contact with Nipah infected patients. The person-to person transmission may occur from close physical contact, especially by contact with body fluids, he added.

In India, testing facility is available at National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.  The clinical features of Nipah virus are fever, altered mental status, severe weakness, headache, respiratory distress, cough, vomiting, muscle pain, convulsion and diarrhoea.

In infected people, Nipah virus causes severe illness characterized by inflammation of the brain or respiratory diseases, said the spokesman.

 He said that in general, the case–fatality rate is estimated at 40 to 75 per cent. However, this rate could vary by outbreak and could be upto 100 per cent, he added.

Currently there is no known treatment or vaccine available for either people or animals. However Ribavirin, an antiviral may have a role in reducing mortality among patients with encephalitis caused by Nipah virus. Intensive supportive care with treatment of symptoms is the main approach to managing the infection in people, said the spokesman.

He said that human NiV infection is an emerging zoonotic disease which was first recognized in a large outbreak of 276 reported cases in Malaysia and Singapore from September 1998 to May 1999.