Indian Health Authorities schools have closed in at least seven villages in Kozhikode districtin Kerala, after declaring themselves zones Containment of Nipah virus, which has already caused the death of two people. The news has made headlines in many newspapers, with some adding that the virus is 75 times more deadly than the one that causes COVID-19. Logically, this brought back some rather unpleasant memories of what happened in 2020. But to what extent should we be wary of this news?
Well, it is true that attention should be paid to any virus that causes outbreaks and deaths. However, it is also true that we must remember that the Nipah virus is not new and that Its ability to cause pandemics is very limited.
It was first described in 1998 and 1999after the discovery of two large outbreaks in Malaysia and Singapore. Its name actually comes from Nipa, a village in Malaysia where fatal human sacrifice from which the virus was first extracted. It was initially discovered in pigs, which are one of its main reservoirs, but soon spread to humans, causing several deaths. It has since been discovered in other countries such as Bangladesh and India.
The outbreaks were extinguished relatively quickly, both due to the containment measures implemented and the difficulty of spreading the virus. This is an alarming virus that has already been classified as notifiable and according to World Health Organization, needs to be carefully studied to find vaccines and treatments. But even so, news like these days should not cause global panic.
What is Nipah virus and how does it spread?
Nipah virus is RNA viruses as a cause of COVID-19. He belongs to the family orthomyxoviruswhich also includes measles, although it is very different.
It is believed that this disease reached man thanks to the decision to install pig farms surrounded by fruit trees Singapore and Malaysia. These trees have attracted many species fruit batscalled flying foxes, which previously developed Nipah virus.
It is usually transmitted through contact with the secretions of infected animals. So when the pigs came upon contact with your own feces, They got sick en masse. The disease then spread to humans, mainly through pigs. Although there is an opinion that there could have been direct infection from bats. For example, if a person ate the sap of palm trees where bats deposited their feces, or climbed a tree trunk, he could become infected.
The same thing happens from person to person. Contact with feces, urine, blood and other secretions This is the main route of infection.
As for the symptoms, they begin to appear. 5 to 14 days after contact and they begin mainly with headaches and confusion. This is followed by high fever, drowsiness, difficulty breathing and, in the most severe cases, coma and death. The respiratory and nervous systems are predominantly affected, causing in the latter very severe encephalitis.
The death rate from Nipah virus varies from one outbreak to another, but is approximately from 50% to 75%.
In short, this is not an unknown virus at all. Both in India, where the current outbreak has been declared, and in other neighboring countries, they are more than well aware of this. Therefore, the authorities of these countries need to be careful, and it wouldn’t hurt to announce this in the media, but without alarmism.
One made of lime and one made of sand
The fact that the Nipah virus is so deadly is dramatic for the people suffering from it. There are no treatments or vaccines.so you can only treat the symptoms and wait for the patient’s own immune system to deal with them.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t always emerge victorious. People become seriously ill and often die. This is, of course, terrible, but that is why this virus unlikely to lead to a pandemic. Patients feel so bad that they stay in bed as soon as symptoms appear. They don’t communicate, much less travel. The close contact required for infection is limited to people in your immediate environment. It usually does not spread over long distances.
Therefore, it will be very difficult for the Nipah virus to lead to a pandemic like COVID-19. We must remember that this disease, as a rule, has a very mild course. For this reason, some infected people lived completely normal lives or even traveled to the other side of the world, making it unstoppable virus.
The lesson we should take from all this is that science, if it had enough resources to do so, should also focus on viruses like Nipah. It didn’t reach Europe or USA and the media scares us, but when we see that it doesn’t reach us, we relax. However, many people suffer and die because of this. That’s what we should be worried about. It is critical to devote financial resources to finding vaccines and treatments for people in affected countries. The rest of us don’t splash though. Let’s focus on what’s important without losing our cool for reasons why we shouldn’t lose it.
Source: Hiper Textual
