Fruit bats seen hanging from tree branches in broad daylight. Bats are believed to be carriers of Nipah virus, a zoonotic disease transmitted from animals to humans.
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Health authorities in the southern Indian state of Kerala have declared a state of high alert after the recent outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus.
This comes after a 14-year-old boy died from an infection over the weekend, as authorities race to trace people who had contact with him.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George said on Tuesday that the girl’s close relatives had tested negative for the virus, according to local media reports, adding that precautionary measures such as wearing face masks in public places could not be lifted yet.
The state health minister had earlier said that 60 people have been identified as being at high risk of contracting the disease. All those identified as being at high risk are being tested.
Nipah virus, which was partly inspired by the fictional MEV-1 virus in the 2011 Hollywood movie Contagion, is considered one of the most dangerous pathogens circulating in the wild.
Nipah virus was first identified 25 years ago in Malaysia, has an estimated 75% mortality rate and is said to have the potential to spark another pandemic. There is currently no vaccine to prevent infection and no cure.
Nipah virus is transmitted to humans from animals such as fruit bats or pigs. The virus is known to cause fatal encephalitis fever in humans.
The World Health Organization says human infection can range from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory infection.
A health worker wearing protective gear carries a woman with symptoms of the Nipah virus to an isolation ward at a government hospital in Kozhikode, southern India, September 16, 2023.
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The latest Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala appears to carry a “low risk” of transmission, the World Health Organization's India representative, Dr. Rodrigo Ofrin, said on Tuesday.
“The Kerala government has undertaken active and extensive contact tracing. Sixty people were in close contact with the 14-year-old who died and have therefore been classified as high-risk contacts. All of them are being tested for the virus,” Overin told CNBC in an emailed statement.
“Given the transmission dynamics of Nipah virus itself and the current assessment and case loads, this outbreak appears to carry a low risk of further transmission.”
Nipah virus outbreak
The reason for the Nipah outbreak in Kerala was “multifactory,” Overin said, but stressed that the southern Indian state had an “excellent” system for identifying, detecting and recording all suspected cases, leading to immediate public health measures.
Prior to the latest outbreak, the Kerala state government had reported four separate outbreaks of Nipah virus in the region since 2018.
Health workers wearing protective gear move people who have been in contact with a person infected with the Nipah virus to an isolation center at a government hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala, India, September 14, 2023.
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In an investigation published last year, Reuters reported that widespread tree loss and rapid urbanization in Kerala state over recent decades created the ideal conditions for the emergence of the Nipah virus.
A separate report noted that Kerala has some of the world's leading “jumping zones,” a term used to describe areas most suitable for bat viruses to infect humans.
India's National Centre for Disease Control, which is leading the response to the outbreak, was not immediately available for an update when contacted by CNBC on Wednesday.
