Taking enough precautions and following an appropriate hygiene regimen will reduce the chance of Nipah virus infections, a senior scientist said in Belagavi on Thursday.
“Nipah virus can be dangerous as it has a fatality rate of over 50%. However, its infection can be avoided by following precautions and by adopting a hygienic regimen such as washing hands properly. It is also less transmissible than COVID-19,” Subarna Roy, director, ICMR-NITM, said.
He was answering queries from journalists, at the national-level training programme on clinical trials.
Dr. Roy said that Nipah is a zoonotic virus that tends to spread from contact with fruit bats, pigs and other farm animals. “It is also found among groups that collect date palm sap from the forest. It spreads from infected people to others through physical contact. However, it is not as highly transmissible as other infectious diseases such as COVID-19,” he said.
“There are reports that Kerala has witnessed five deaths due to Nipah infections. The efforts of all agencies concerned now will be to contain the infections in restricted regions and conduct an information and education programme to raise awareness among the general public,” he said.
Agencies like ICMR are involved in disease detection, testing and other such activities. “We are confident that it can be contained,” he said.
