A late-December Nipah virus outbreak in India’s West Bengal, involving two infected healthcare workers, has raised worldwide concern.
With a mortality rate in the range of 40 to 75 percent, Nipah, a zoonotic pathogen, with fruit-eating bats and animals such as pigs being its primary host, has no available cure.
The virus transmits through contaminated food as well as person-to-person contact, with an incubation period of four to fourteen days. This has led some of India’s neighboring countries to impose COVID-like screening measures at airports.
