AI Summary
Nipah virus, a deadly RNA virus, has infected and killed people in Kerala, India. It causes encephalitis and has a high fatality rate. While the virus currently spreads through contact with bodily fluids, future strains could be more effective and cause a pandemic. More scientific and policy work is needed to understand and prevent Nipah outbreaks. Early detection systems and identifying virus reservoirs are important steps.
Nipah, a deadly RNA virus that can spill over from bats to humans, has infected six people and killed two in the Indian state of Kerala since August. The virus can cause encephalitis — inflammation of the brain — which manifests as fever, headaches, vomiting and respiratory distress. It has a fatality rate of 40–75%, depending on the strain.
This is the fourth Nipah spillover event in Kerala in the past six years. Before the 2023 outbreak, one in 2018 also spread between people and caused at least 17 deaths. The other two, in 2019 and 2021, were limited to single cases.
At present, Nipah spreads between humans through contact with bodily fluids, so it is unlikely to cause a pandemic. But the virus is poorly understood, and no approved vaccines or treatments are available. Each outbreak gives the virus the chance to adapt and produce a strain that could spread more effectively.
Nipah virus outbreak: what scientists know so far
Based on my experience as one of the leaders of the Nipah surveillance team in Kerala during the 2018 and 2023 outbreaks, more scientific and policy work on Nipah is needed. As a key first step, all countries likely to have Nipah virus reservoirs should have early detection systems.
That starts with knowing better where the risks lie. The strain in Kerala’s outbreaks originated from Bangladesh in