A virus with a fatality rate that is incomparable to the COVID-19 virus is hitting India.
Mohamed Hashim, 12, a 12-year-old Indian boy who tested positive for the Nipah virus, died on the 5th (local time) at a hospital in Kerala, a week after being hospitalized.
www.eurasiareview.com
Nipah virus infection has a very high fatality rate. According to the Gyeonggi Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Center, 19 cases of Nipah virus infection were reported in Kerala in 2018, of which 17 died. The fatality rate is as high as 90%. When it was first discovered in 1998 in Nipa, Malaysia, it was a terrifying virus that killed more than 100 people in a year. The global fatality rate is said to be 75%.
India’s health authorities said the Nipah virus, which can kill up to 3 out of 4 people infected, could be a bigger problem than COVID-19.
Fortunately, all eight people who had come into contact with an Indian boy who died of the Nipah virus tested negative. However, as the fatality rate is exceptionally high and the quarantine situation is unstable due to the role of medical facilities, the Indian health authorities have taken an emergency. Health authorities immediately set up a laboratory at the Kerala State Kozhikode Medical University to test Nipah virus samples.
There is no vaccine for the Nipah virus, which is a host of fruit bats. Symptomatic treatment with antiviral drugs is the best treatment. The incubation period is 5-14 days. In the early stages of infection, symptoms similar to a cold appear, such as high fever, headache, and dizziness.
According to experts, the Nipah virus can infect animals and spread to other humans. The fact that it is a zoonotic virus with a frighteningly high fatality rate is making health authorities nervous.
Indian health officials believe the boy contracted the Nipah virus after eating a fruit called rambutan grown in areas inhabited by fruit bats.
.
