The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said the risk of the deadly Nipah virus spreading from India is low. It also said it was not recommending any travel or trade restrictions following two reported infections in the country, Reuters reported.
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are among Asian locations that tightened airport controls this week to prevent such a spread after India confirmed the infections, the report said.
“The WHO considers the risk of further spread of infection from these two cases to be low,” Reuters said in an email on Friday, adding that India has the capacity to handle such outbreaks.
“So far, there is no evidence of increased human-to-human transmission,” it said, adding that it was coordinating with Indian health authorities.
But she did not rule out further exposure to the virus, which is circulating in the bat population in parts of India and neighboring Bangladesh.
The virus, carried by bats and animals such as pigs, can cause fever and inflammation of the brain. It has a mortality rate ranging from 40% to 75%, without treatment, although vaccines in development are still being tested.
It spreads to humans from infected bats or fruit they contaminate, but human-to-human transmission is not easy because it usually requires prolonged contact with the infected, Reuters reported.
Small outbreaks are not uncommon, and virologists say the risk to the general population remains low.
The source of the infection is still not fully understood, the WHO said.
Nipah is designated as a priority pathogen due to the absence of approved vaccines or treatments, its high mortality rate and concerns that it could mutate into a more transmissible form.
Nipah is not new to India
Two health workers infected in late December in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal are being treated in hospital, local authorities said.
India continues to report occasional Nipah virus infections, particularly in Kerala in the south. Kerala is considered one of the highest risk areas in the world for the virus, which has been linked to dozens of deaths since it first emerged there in 2018.
“The outbreak is the seventh documented in India and the third in West Bengal, where outbreaks occurred in 2001 and 2007 in districts bordering Bangladesh, which report outbreaks almost annually,” the WHO said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
