What is Nipah virus Symptoms of Nipah virus Prevention
Symptoms of Nipah virus
Nipah virus infection can progress in humans without showing up any symptoms.
Otherwise, infected people initially develop influenza-like symptoms.
Once a person is infected with the virus, symptoms may appear in between 4-14 days and may include the following:
- Fever
- Muscle pain
- Headaches
- A sore throat
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Mental confusion and disorientation
- Brain swelling or fatal encephalitis
What is Nipah virus?
The disease first broke out in Malaysia in 1998 and appeared in domestic pigs. In the subsequent NiV outbreaks, there was an intermediate host. The disease first appeared in human beings in 2001 in Bangladesh.
Nipah is infection spread through fruit bats and can both affect humans as well as domestic animals including dogs, cats, goats, horses, and sheep. Also referred as NiV virus, the infection in humans has a range of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic infection to the acute respiratory syndrome and fatal encephalitis.
Ways to prevent Nipah virus infection
- Do not consume any fruit that seems to be bitten by any animal/bats.
- Prevent animal from eating fruits contaminated by bats.
- Avoid drinking unpasteurized fruit juices
- regular hand washing
- Avoid drinking unpasteurized fruit juices
- Avoid close (unprotected) physical contact with infected people
- Wear NH95-grade and higher masks
- Wash hands regularly with soap
- Avoid consuming partly eaten fruits or unpasteurized fruit juices
- Avoid being around anima pens
- Boil freshly collected date palm juice before consuming
- Thoroughly wash and peel fruits before consuming
- Maintain your and children’s personal hygiene
- Cover your household properly
Juice is the Cause
Drinking date palm sap/toddy/juice can also cause the infection.
The virus has also been isolated from environmental samples of bat urine and partially eaten fruit in Malaysia. Due to the migratory habit of the locally abundant fruit bats in South Asia, Nipah outbreaks occur more in this region.
