Antibodies against Nipah virus

• ICMR and the National Institute of Virology has picked up samples with the possible presence of antibodies against the Nipah virus in some bat species from a cave in Mahabaleshwar.
• The survey was aimed at studying the prevalence of the Nipah virus (NiV) – one of the top-10 global priority list pathogens identified by the WHO – in bats of India.

• India has experienced four NiV outbreaks, with the case fatality rate between 65 percent and 100 percent.

Significance of the Research going on:

• Identifying the source of the Nipah infection will help prevent future spread, as Nipah virus has a spillover effect i.e virus seems to have moved from bats to humans in one event and after this moved from one human to another.

Nipah virus (NiV)

• It is a zoonotic virus (it is transmitted from animals to humans).
• The Nipah virus is a type of RNA virus in the genus Henipavirus.
• The spread of the virus is rapid and fatal.
• The mortality rate with infected patients is as high as 70%.
• Nipah Virus is an airborne transmission infection and can affect those who come in direct contact with contaminated bodies such as pigs or bats carrying the virus.
• Infected bats shed the virus through excreta and secretions. Human-to-human transmission has also been documented.
• Direct contact with pigs is the prime mode of transmission of the virus in humans.

Source of Nipah Virus

• The virus was first identified in Kampung Sungai Nipah in Malaysia and in Singapore in 1998.
• At that time, it was primarily caused in pigs and through them got transferred to the humans.
• As quoted by the World Health Organisation, the natural hosts of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus.

Nipah Virus and Fruit Bats

• Fruit bats belong to the Pteropodidae Family – Pteropus genus.
• They’re also known as flying foxes.
• Found in South East Asia.

• The Nipah Virus can survive in the bat’s body without causing disease, allowing it to jump to susceptible mammals like humans or pigs when bats come in contact with them.
• Antibodies were found in the Indian Flying Fox during the Bangladesh outbreak.

Symptoms of Nipah Virus Infection

• Nipah Virus is usually associated with inflammation of the brain due to which several days of fever can often lead to a state of confusion, disorientation and even persistent drowsiness.
• Encephalitis may also emerge as an acute or late-onset and can be a fatal complication of NiV.
• Neurological, respiratory and pulmonary signs also emerge in an infected individual.

• Some common signs and symptoms of NiV are drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, fever, headache and mental issues such as confusion.

Nipah Virus India

• The year 2001 saw the first outbreak of Nipah Virus in Siliguri, India followed by the 2007 outbreak in Nadia of West Bengal.
• The 2018 outbreak of Kerela was declared over soon after it was localized in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala.
• In Kochi, another case was seen in June 2019.

Treatment for Nipah Virus

• So far, no vaccine has been developed for curing the infection in both humans and animals.
• The primary treatment for human cases is intensive supportive care and supportive medicines.

Why are so many diseases linked to bats?

• All bats can carry viruses, some of them deadly like:

• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) antibodies were found in insectivorous bats.
• Ebola antibodies were found in Hammer-headed fruit bat.
• Indian Flying Fox, hosts over 50 viruses

• With around 1,200 species, bats comprise 20% of the earth’s mammalian diversity.
• Long periods of flying raises the temperatures of bats, boosting their immune responses and helps them survive the microbes’ pathogenic effects."