Scared and thirsty fruit-eating mammals caused a fourth outbreak of the Nipah virus in India’s Kerala state this month
The southern Indian state of Kerala recently introduced emergency measures to combat an infectious respiratory disease transmitted by bats – although we’re not talking about Covid-19, but rather the Nipah virus. It was the fourth such outbreak in Kerala since 2018. On this occasion, the state contained the virus within days and limited the fatalities to two, demonstrating why it has one of the best healthcare systems in India.
The Nipah virus (NiV) infection, also called the Nipah virus encephalitis, is named after the Malaysian village of Kampung Sungai Nipah, where it was first found. It is a zoonotic disease that spreads from animals to humans. An outbreak of the virus in Malaysia in 1998 and 1999 started from infected pigs and resulted in 265 cases and 108 deaths. (According to a Kerala health department source, the pig…