Virus with a 75% fatality rate just appeared in India — should we worry?
With such a high fatality rate, even small Nipah virus outbreaks demand attention, but experts say a pandemic is unlikely. What is the Nipah virus and what is the risk of a global outbreak? Two new cases of Nipah virus appeared in West Bengal, India, last month. The virus kills between 40% and 75% of those infected, often causing fatal inflammation in the brain. "If you get the Nipah virus, it is bad," explained William Schaffner, MD, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University. "It can cause encephalitis with a high mortality rate, and even if you recover, you are likely to have long-term disability." The virus is carried by fruit bats that contaminate fruits with their saliva or urine, particularly when feeding on date palm trees during sap collection. The largest outbreak occurred in Malaysia in 1998, when over 100 pig farmers of the 300 infected d...
