Despite warnings, india is not fully prepared to handle crises like nipah
- Select a language for the TTS:
- UK English Female
- UK English Male
- US English Female
- US English Male
- Australian Female
- Australian Male
- Language selected: (auto detect) - EN
Play all audios:
According to the WHO, the Nipah virus NiV is “a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans.” It is an infectious disease spread by secretions of infected
bats. It can spread to humans through contaminated fruit, infected animals, or through close contact with infected humans. The outbreak of Nipah was first recognised in Asia, in Malaysia, in
1999. The same year, 11 workers in one of two Singaporean abattoirs developed Nipah virus associated encephalitis or pneumonia, resulting in one fatality. In the south-eastern region, the
first identification of Nipah virus as a cause of encephalitis outbreak, happened in Bangladesh in 2001. Since then, outbreaks of Nipah virus encephalitis have been reported almost every
year in select districts of Bangladesh.