To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Any news of an outbreak of a virus can bring a lot of us back to 2020, when the then novel coronavirus sparked a years-long pandemic.
Now with ‘Nipah virus’ within the headlines, should people within the UK be apprehensive?
India has seen an increase of confirmed cases of the rare, brain-damaging virus, even prompting neighbouring countries to bring back health checks.
What’s the Nipah virus?
The Nipah virus lives in fruit bats across South and Southeast Asia.
It spreads to humans through contact with the animals’ bodily fluids, equivalent to eating fruit or sap contaminated with the bats’ urine or saliva.
There’s evidence it will possibly infect other animals, including pigs, dogs, cats, goats, horses and sheep.
Symptoms can develop between 4 and 21 days after infection. They include flu-like symptoms, equivalent to fevers, body aches and vomiting.
Extra time, nonetheless, it will possibly cause respiratory syndrome and encephalitis, or brain inflammation.
Between 45% and 70% the people who’re infected die. There isn’t a vaccine and no cure.
About 20% of survivors suffer neurological effects, equivalent to seizures or personality changes, in accordance with the World Health Organization.
Outbreaks of the virus occur almost yearly in Bangladesh, but in addition Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
The virus was first identified during an outbreak in 1998 amongst pig farmers in Malaysia, where it killed over 100 people.
Where is the virus now?
Only in West Bengal, the fourth most populated state in India.
Two laboratory-confirmed cases of Nipah have been seen – two nurses employed at the identical private hospital in Barasat, Katoya.
Health experts in India have been repeatedly stressing that it’s only these two confirmed cases amid reports there have been five.
The nurses – a person and a girl, each 25 – began feeling unwell in December, before their conditions spiralled and were taken to emergency care.
The person is recovering while the girl stays in a coma.
Indian health officials aren’t sure how the pair became infected, but suspect they could have sap while visiting the village of Ghughragachhi.
Nearly 200 individuals who were in touch with the patients have been tested for the virus – all got here back negative, the WHO said.
Around 100 people were briefly quarantined in a hospital.
The WHO said today: ‘India has demonstrated its capability to administer Nipah outbreaks during previous events and beneficial public health measures are being implemented jointly by national and state health teams.
‘At the moment, there is no such thing as a evidence of increased human-to-human transmission.’
Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan at the moment are monitoring passengers for Nipah virus symptoms.
Some airports are screening travellers before they will enter the predominant terminals, while others are handing out ‘Health Beware Cards’ to passengers upon landing.
Could Nipah virus result in a world lockdown in future?
No have to refill on toilet roll just yet, says Ian Jones, a professor of virology on the University of Reading.
Jones said that the Nipah virus could be very different from the coronavirus, which is spread by the viral droplets sneezed and coughed by patients.
‘It’s frightening because the death rate is high, however the virus doesn’t transmit effectively individual to individual, so following a case, it’s really only close members of the family and healthcare employees who’re in danger,’ he said.
‘Following Covid, any latest virus is treated with alarm – could it develop into pandemic? – but for Nipah this cannot occur because the virus doesn’t transmit by air and has never shown any sign of doing so.’
WHO considers Nipah as a possible epidemic candidate, a regional outbreak of an illness that spreads unexpectedly.
A pandemic, meanwhile, is a disease that spreads worldwide.
‘The short answer is that Nipah is a deadly localised virus whose cases might be minimised by strict hygiene and education,’ Jones added.
‘But it surely is just not a pandemic threat.’
What’s the UK’s current guidance around Nipah virus?
The UK Health Security Agency updated its Nipah virus guidance yesterday.
Agency officials stress that this isn’t an indication that individuals should panic – it’s just at all times a great idea to know what a virus is.
No cases have been present in the UK.
There isn’t a mention of Nipah virus within the Foreign Office’s travel advice for India.
To travellers, the UKHSA recommends people:
- Avoid contact with bats and their environments, especially sick bats
- Don’t devour raw or partially fermented date palm sap – at all times boil date palm juice first
- Wash all fruit thoroughly with clean water and peel before eating
- Wear protective clothing and gloves when handling sick animals and through slaughter and culling procedures
- Practice good hand hygiene.
The agency stresses that the danger for tourists visiting endemic countries is ‘very low’ if safety recommendations are followed.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Waymo reveals when Londoners can use its robotaxis
MORE: Aer Lingus cancels all long-haul flights from major UK airport – even when pre-booked
MORE: Are you able to swim within the potholes where you reside?