Nipah Outbreak in Kerala | 06 Jun 2019

Recently, Kerala has confirmed the outbreak of Nipah virus in the state.

• This is the second consecutive year when a Nipah virus outbreak has occurred in Kerala.
• Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic virus (it is transmitted from animals to humans).
• The infection is generally transmitted from animals to human beings, mainly from bats and pigs.
• Human-to-human transmission is also possible, and so is transmission from contaminated food.
• The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family and Pteropus genus, widely found in South and South East Asia.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) says the infection has been found to be fatal in 40% to 75% of the infected patients.
• There is no treatment, nor any vaccine is available as of now, either for humans or animals.
• Nipah virus was first recognized in 1999 during an outbreak among pig farmers in, Malaysia.
• In India, the first outbreak was in 2001 in Siliguri. Another outbreak happened in 2007 in Nadia of West Bengal.