Facts About Nipah Virus
Nipah Virus causes a rare brain fever caused by fruits bats. If you are experiencing high fever, terrible headache and trouble in breathing there are chances you are infected with nipah virus. There is no vaccination available for nipah virus presently.
Nipah Virus is transmitted from :
Fruit Bats to animals through bites.
From animals to other animals through fluids.
Bats to humans if one takes fruits bitten by bats
From animals to humans through body fluids
From humans to humans through body fluids
Symptoms of Nipah Virus :
Fever, headache, vomiting, fainting.
Some may show symptoms of epilepsy.
Symptoms may last for 10 to 12 days and then, the infected may fall unconscious.
Death may happen as brain fever develops at the final stage.
Nipah Virus Prevention :
Do not eat fruits bitten by birds and animals
Don’t eat partly consumed fruits
Wash hands properly after contacting infected people
Wear mask and gloves while attending to patients
Do not drink toddy collected from areas where bats are in large numbers
Be careful about your kids during this mango season
Eat fruits only after proper washing
Keep personnal hygeince
Make sure that your household well properly covered
Nipah virus is a paramyxovirus, mainly zoonotic. The intermediate host is pig and the mode of transmission is contact with infected fruit bats in the wild, contact with infected pigs, rarely human to human. The symptoms are non specific from cold, resp infection to nausea vomiting, fatal brain fever, mortality upto 70%. The diagnostic tests no general commercial tests, viral isolation possible in special centers and treatment is largely supportive care only.