2023-09-16 14:50:12
In recent days it became known that Indian authorities are trying to contain an epidemic of the Nipah virus, a pathogen that is transmitted from animals to humans and has a high mortality rate.
The virus was first reported in 1998, when it began to spread among a population of pig farmers in Malaysia. Although health authorities consider that Nipah outbreaks are rare, the World Health Organization (WHO) has considered that the disease it causes should be investigated due to the health risk it represents.
The virus that worries India
Specialist checks patient in India.
The multilateral organization has also indicated that some of the outbreaks that have occurred so far have been caused by the transmission of sick pigs to humans. That was the case with the first outbreaks in Malaysia, which also ended up causing new infections in Singapore.
This first epidemic left around a hundred dead in Malaysia alone and another death in Singapore, and led to the slaughter of around a million pigs.
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“It is believed that transmission occurred through respiratory droplets or contact with nasopharyngeal secretions or tissues of sick pigs,” the WHO detailed.
Meanwhile, he indicated that in other countries such as Bangladesh and India (which reported outbreaks in 2001) the main sources of infection were identified in contaminated fruits and the urine or saliva of sick bats, which can also contract the virus.
In addition, infections have been reported in health facilities, thus affecting health personnel. “From 2001 to 2008, regarding half of the cases reported in Bangladesh were due to human-to-human transmission through care of infected patients,” the WHO noted.
Health workers protecting themselves to care for a person with Nipah virus, in India.
Now India is facing its fourth outbreak in the last five years, which has raised the alarm of international health authorities. In fact, in the southern state of Kerala, two deaths from Nipah and four other confirmed cases have been recorded since last month.
One of the main concerns of experts points to the severity of the symptoms generated by the virus.
“Human infection can be asymptomatic or cause acute respiratory disease (mild or severe) or fatal encephalitis. Infected people initially present flu-like symptoms (fever, headaches, myalgias, vomiting and sore throat),” the WHO has indicated.
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“Some people may also suffer from atypical pneumonia and serious respiratory problems, such as acute dyspnea. In severe cases, encephalitis and seizures appear, which progress to coma in 24 to 48 hours,” concludes the health agency.
The symptoms of the virus
According to authorities, several symptoms may occur at the same time, as well as unusual pneumonia, seizures, or there is even the possibility of asymptomatic cases.
Some of the most common symptoms are:
Fever
Headache, headaches
Vomiting
Tos
Dizziness
Sore throat
Drowsiness
Alteration of consciousness.
Transmission routes
One of the ways the virus is transmitted is through the body fluids of an infected person such as saliva and blood. Some animals, such as bats and pigs, can also contract the virus and transmit it through contact with food.
There is no preventive vaccine, so doctors can only deal with symptomatic treatment, and the mortality rate is up to 70%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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*With AFP and EFE
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