Nipah virus is a Zoonotic, transmitted from animal to human. The infected people will suffer from a series of illnesses, including severe respiratory infections and mortal encephalitis. Nipah virus affects animals like pigs leads to significant economic losses for farmers. The death rate of the Nipah virus may range from 40-75%. The natural host of the Nipah virus is from the Pteropodidae family of fruit bats. There are only a few known epidemics in Asia. It affected a large number of animals and caused death in both animals and humans. This disease was first found in 1999 by the pig farmers of Malaysia and followed by Bangladesh in 2001.
Symptoms
- The period of incubation for the Nipah virus takes 4-14 days.
- Infected people initially suffer from fever headaches, Muscle pain, vomiting, and painful throat.
- Followed by giddiness, tiredness, tainted consciousness, and neurological signs that show acute encephalitis.
- In severe cases, it may lead to a coma within 24-48 hours.
- Some people may also suffer from unusual pneumonia and severe lung problems, with acute respiratory pain.
Diagnosis
- Initially, there is no specific symptom seen in the persons affected by the virus; it creates challenges at the time of the outbreak and controls the timely infection.
- Nipah virus is diagnosed during the acute and convalescent phases of the disease.
- The absolute accuracy of the test can be seen in a polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test from physical fluids and antibody findings via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
- Another simple test is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Treatment
- Till now, there is no specific drug or vaccine to treat the Nipah virus.
- WHO recognized Nipah as a priority disease.
- Timely care and immediate treatment should be provided to control the spread and death rate.
- According to the past experience at the time of outbreak at pig farms in 1999, a regular cleaning with proper disinfectant and using detergent will reduce the effect of the Nipah virus.
Transmission
- At the time of first identification of this disease in Malaysia and Singapore, Where most of the human is infected directly in contact with sick pigs or their infected tissues.
- Humans can also be affected by the excretion of pigs or insecure contact with the tissue of a sick animal.
- While the pandemic outbreaks in Bangladesh and India are infected by having fruits and fruit products containing saliva from infected fruit bats were the primary source of infection.
- Human to human infection takes place while taking care of contagious patients.
- AT the significant outbreak in Bangladesh and India, Human to human transmission spreads due to the excretion of human waste in the environment.
- InSiliguri, India, in 2001, the transmission is as recorded 75%, whereas it affected mainly the health care workers at hospitals.
- From 2001 to 2008, half of the reported cases in Bangladesh were primarily the health care providers and visitors.
