Not to be confused with COVID. New out of India. This is concerning as public health officials are already struggling, now to be hit with this.
An infected human typically shows symptoms including fever and headache for anywhere between three days and two weeks, followed by a cough, sore throat and respiratory issues. The condition later progresses swiftly to swelling in the brain cells, leading to drowsiness, confusion, and then possible coma and death.
There is no cure or vaccine for Nipah yet, and patients are only given supportive medical care.
According to the World Health Organization, up to 75% of Nipah infections prove fatal. The mortality rate for the coronavirus, by comparison, is believed to be about 2%. About 20% of survivors experience neurological symptoms that can persist, including seizures and personality changes.
A 2004 Bangladesh outbreak was traced back to humans consuming date palm sap that had been contaminated by infected fruit bats. The last outbreak in India, which hit Kerala in 2018, killed 17 of the 18 people who caught it. Those infections were all traced back to fruit bats found dead in the water of a family's well.
Nipah is considered less contagious than the coronavirus, but its much higher mortality rate, a longer incubation period of up to 45 days, and its ability to infect a much wider variety of animals all make Nipah a cause of significant concern for epidemiologists trying to predict and prevent the next pandemic.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nipah-virus-outbreak-india-kerala/
An infected human typically shows symptoms including fever and headache for anywhere between three days and two weeks, followed by a cough, sore throat and respiratory issues. The condition later progresses swiftly to swelling in the brain cells, leading to drowsiness, confusion, and then possible coma and death.
There is no cure or vaccine for Nipah yet, and patients are only given supportive medical care.
According to the World Health Organization, up to 75% of Nipah infections prove fatal. The mortality rate for the coronavirus, by comparison, is believed to be about 2%. About 20% of survivors experience neurological symptoms that can persist, including seizures and personality changes.
A 2004 Bangladesh outbreak was traced back to humans consuming date palm sap that had been contaminated by infected fruit bats. The last outbreak in India, which hit Kerala in 2018, killed 17 of the 18 people who caught it. Those infections were all traced back to fruit bats found dead in the water of a family's well.
Nipah is considered less contagious than the coronavirus, but its much higher mortality rate, a longer incubation period of up to 45 days, and its ability to infect a much wider variety of animals all make Nipah a cause of significant concern for epidemiologists trying to predict and prevent the next pandemic.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nipah-virus-outbreak-india-kerala/