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WEKU
WEKU
Ari Daniel

Trying to crack the Nipah code: How does this deadly virus spill from bats to humans?

A field researcher holds a male bat that was trapped in an overhead net as part of an effort to find out how the animals pass Nipah virus to humans. The animal will be tested for the virus, examined and ultimately released. (Fatima Tuj Johora for NPR)

It's dusk in central Bangladesh, in a community within the district of Faridpur. A 50-year-old man sits outside his home beside a rice paddy. His name is Khokon. A fiery beard, dyed a bright orange, rings his chin.

He says the procession of disease and death all started in the spring of 2004. "So the first one was the mother-in-law of my elder brother. She was really sick," Khokon says. "She had been sick for some time. Then she died. We took her to the grave. Then my father got sick."

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