Student, 24, dies from ‘brain-swelling’ Nipah virus as officials rush to trace contacts at risk
A STUDENT has died after contracting the lethal Nipah virus – as health officials race to track down hundreds of people the victim came in contact with.
The 24-year-old is the second person to die of the brain-swelling bug in the Indian state of Kerala in the space of a few months.
Nipah is a zoonotic virus – meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans – that can trigger a deadly, brain swelling fever.
It’s listed as a “priority pathogen” by the World Health Organization (WHO) because of its potential to trigger an epidemic.
There’s currently no vaccine to prevent Nipah virus infections and no treatment to cure it.
The student first came down with a fever on September 4 and died just five days later, Dr R Renuka, a district medical officer in the town of Malappuram in northern Kerala, told Reuters.
A blood sample was sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, which confirmed that the 24-year-old had succumbed to a Nipah infection.
Some 151 people are now being monitored for symptoms of the illness after coming into contact with the victim, to prevent the the deadly virus from spreading further, Dr Renuka added.
The local medical official said five other people had developed primary symptoms of a Nipah infection.
She said blood samples from the five patients had been sent for tests, but didn’t specify if they had come into direct contact with the student who passed away.
It follows the death of a 14-year-old boy in July, who went into cardiac arrest in the southern Indian state after contracting the Nipah virus.
The teen left a trail of 214 contacts, who were being monitored by officials – with 60 of at risk of becoming seriously ill if they contracted the bug.
Dr Anoop Kumar, director of critical care medicine at Aster MIMS Hospital in Calicut, said at the time: “There is a minimum chance of an outbreak of Nipah virus at this stage.”
The virus is predominantly seen in Bangladesh – where outbreaks occur almost every year – and was first spotted in Kerala in 2018.
Since, it’s been linked to dozens of deaths in the state.
An investigation published by Reuters last year, found that Kerala – which is a tropical state and is witnessing rapid urbanisation and tree loss – had “ideal conditions for a virus like Nipah to emerge”.
Experts say that animals are living in closer proximity to humans due to habitat loss, which helps the virus jump from animals to humans and poses a risk for outbreaks.
The bug – which inspired the blockbuster film Contagion about a global pandemic – has a fatality rate up to 75 per cent.
Of those who survive it, around 20 per cent are left with long-term neurological conditions, including personality changes or seizure disorders.
For comparison, estimates based on the John Hopkins University dashboard suggest the fatality rate of Covid is just over one per cent.
What is Nipah virus?
Nipah is a serious, and sometimes deadly, viral disease
It’s carried by fruit bats which can be passed onto people.
Some patients present no symptoms while others present with severe inflammation of the brain.
Symptoms include fever, and headache followed by drowsiness and mental confusion.
About half of patients with neurological symptoms also experienced respiratory difficulty.
Progression of symptoms
People with Nipah usually start getting sick between four and 14 days after they were infected with the virus.
They are typically sick for three to 14 days with fever, headache, cough, sore throat, and difficulty breathing.
Later in the infection, some people may experience brain swelling, or encephalitis, where severe symptoms can include confusion, drowsiness, and seizures.
People with these symptoms can fall into a coma within 24 to 48 hours.
How it spreads
- Nipah virus can be transmitted from bats to humans through contact with infected bat secretions – for example by consuming raw date palm sap
- The virus can also spread to domestic animals, notably pigs, and cause disease in these populations
- NiV can also be transmitted through close contact with infected patients
How to prevent it
If you travel to or live in an area where Nipah virus outbreaks have occurred, you should:
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and water
- Avoid contact with flying fox bats or sick pigs
- Avoid areas where bats roost or
- Avoid touching anything that could be soiled by bats
- Avoid eating raw date palm sap or fruit that could be soiled by bats
- Avoid contact with the blood or body fluids of someone with Nipah
How it is treated
Treatment is currently limited to supportive care.
A vaccine has been developed to protect horses and this holds promise for future henipavirus protection for humans
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nipah is typically transmitted to humans from animals such as bats and pigs, through direct contact with bodily fluids like blood or saliva.
Humans can also pick the disease up by eating foods contaminated with urine or saliva from infected animals, or through close contact with people who already have it – but these forms of transmission are much rarer.
People infected with the Nipah virus my not display any symptoms at all – but many go on to develop acute respiratory infections, seizures and fatal brain swelling, called encephalitis.
Encephalitis and seizures only occur in severe cases and can progress to coma within 24 to 48 hours.
It typically takes between four days and two weeks for people to develop symptoms after being infected – though in some cases it has taken up to 45, WHO noted.
‘CONCERN’ OVER TRANSMISSION
Scientists previously told The Sun that Nipah could “absolutely be the cause of a new pandemic”.
Dr Rebecca Dutch, chair of the University of Kentucky’s department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry and a world a leader in the study of viruses, said that although there are no current Nipah outbreaks in the world, they occur periodically and it is “extremely likely” we will see more.
She told us: “Nipah is one of the viruses that could absolutely be the cause of a new pandemic. Several things about Nipah are very concerning.
“Many other viruses in that family (like measles) transmit well between people, so there is concern that a Nipah variant with increased transmission could arise.
“The mortality rate for this virus is between 45 per cent and 75 per cent depending on the outbreak – so this is much higher than Covid-19.
Is Nipah virus threat to the UK?
By Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia
Nipah virus is a nasty disease.
Although everything is possible in the world of infectious diseases. The threat of a global Nipah virus pandemic is not high on the list of the things that keep we awake at night.
Firstly, the primary host species are Pteropodidae bats, fruit bats or a flying fox.
Humans usually catch the infection from an infected animal, either the fruit bats themselves or from intermediate animals such as pigs, Contaminated food can also be a cause.
The pigs catch the infection from the fruit bats. Pteropodidae bats are not found in Europe -see figure below.
Secondly, person to person transmission does occur but it is not very efficient.
The R-value is below 1.0, around 0.33, so you would not get sustained person-to-person transmission unless there was some pretty impressive evolution, not impossible but very unlikely.
I guess there could be a risk of introduction into the UK from contaminated food, probably meat illegally brought into the country.
However, any subsequent illnesses would not spread far.
Of course with climate change the distribution of species may change over the next century and who knows what the risk may be in 50 or 100 years from now.
“Nipah has been shown to be transmitted through food, as well as via contact with human or animal excretions.
“The incubation period for Nipah can be quite long, and it can be unclear if transmission can occur during this time.”
Dr Jonathan Epstein, vice president for science and outreach at the EcoHealth Alliance, explained how they are tracking the Nipah virus and are worried about its potential.
He told The Sun: “We know very little about the genetic variety of Nipah-related viruses in bats, and what we don’t want to happen is for a strain to emerge that is more transmissible among people.”
A study published in The Lancet this year mapped the Nipah virus across nine countries – saying it had infected 749 people between 1998 and 2021.
Earlier this year, it was reported that a man in Bangladesh had died after drinking raw date juice contaminated by the urine or saliva of infected fruit bats.
Global viral threats
The Sun's coverage of viral threats across the globe - from 'valley fever' infecting festival goers to the looming threat of a mutant mpox strain:
- Valley fever, a ‘brain-invading’ fungus that ‘floats in the air’, left 19 sick after music festival in California, US – with experts warning of a rise in cases in the coming months
- Fears have been stoked over the next bird flu pandemic, after someone became infected with H5 bird flu despite claiming to have had no contact with animals
- A never-before-seen ‘wetland’ tick virus that can trigger deadly brain infections has been discovered in humans for the first time
- A concerning new coronavirus with pandemic potential has been detected in minks in Chinese fur farms
- A deadly mutant strain of mpox has been tearing through Africa – with experts fearing it will eventually reach the UK
- Cases of debilitating ‘sloth fever’ spread by biting insects were spotted in European holiday hotspots over the summer months