12-year-old boy dies due Nipah virus in Kerala; all you want to know about NiV
The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed Nipah virus in its top-10 priority list pathogens.
A case of Nipah virus was detected in Kozhikode district of Kerala as a team of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) wassent to the area on Sunday.
Reports said a 12-year-old boy died due to the Nipah virus as Kerala initiated contact tracing.The virus hit Kozhikode amid the coronavirus wave in the state.
Kozhikode district in South India had earlier reported the first case of the virus in May 2018.
According to the World Health Organization(WHO), Nipah(NiV) virus istransmitted fromanimals to humans. The carriersincludebats or pigs includingcontaminated foods. It can also be transmitted by human-to-human contact.
The WHO says fruit bats are the natural Nipah hosts. The disease results in asymptomatic infection,also acute respiratory infection and fatal encephalitis.
The zoonotic virus which is transmitted from animals to humans is also said to infect a large number of animals. The virus was first identified among pigs in Malaysia in 1999, then in Bangladesh in 2001 and has also emerged in eastern India.
WHO has also identified "at-risk" countries including Ghana, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia due to the prevalence of Pteropus bat species which causes the virus.
In Malaysia, the virus was caused due to direct contact with pigs and their contaminated tissues. The transmission occurred due to unprotected contact with the tissue, the WHO said. Singapore had also detected cases of the virus
However, in Bangladesh and India, the outbreak was likely to have taken place due to the consumption of fruit products from contaminated urine or saliva from infected fruit bats.
The symptoms of the disease include fever, headaches, muscle pain, vomiting and sore throat. A person also suffers from acute encephalitis and dizziness. The WHO says some people suffer from pneumonia and respiratory problems.
According to the WHO currently there are no approved vaccines for the virus. Intensive supportive care allows a person to recover from the virus.
Moderna which had earlier successfully launched the vaccine against coronavirus had announced earlier this year that the company is working towards establishing a vaccine against NiV based on based mRNA technology.
(With inputs from Agencies)