The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that both individuals infected with the Nipah virus in the Indian state of West Bengal are alive and currently hospitalized. According to WHO expert Anaïs Legand, none of the 190 people who had contact with the infected individuals showed symptoms, and all tested negative for the Nipah virus.
“The risk at the national, regional, and global levels is assessed as low,” Reuters quoted the WHO representative as saying.
The organization had previously noted that the likelihood of the Nipah virus spreading beyond India is minimal, as the country has the capacity to contain outbreaks of such diseases. However, WHO does not rule out the possibility of new cases due to the presence of bat populations in certain areas of India and neighboring Bangladesh.
The Nipah virus (NiV) is a pathogen carried by fruit bats. It can be transmitted from animals to humans and cause severe forms of encephalitis and respiratory infections, with fatality rates reaching up to 80% in some cases. Outbreaks of Nipah virus infection occur annually in various regions of South and Southeast Asia, often with a high number of deaths. Since the disease was first identified in 1998, around a thousand people have been infected.
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