The world is facing a new medical challenge, this time in India, where researchers in Kerala, located in the tropical Indian region, have pointed out that the state has become a global hotspot for the possible spread of the “Nipah” virus.
The virus is not new in itself, but 22 people were infected with it in India in 2018, of whom only 2 survived. As for its first appearance, it was in 1998 in a village in Malaysia, which is the village that the virus bore its name later, which is “Nibah”.
Subsequently, cases were documented in countries neighboring Malaysia, including Bangladesh, the Philippines and Singapore, in addition to India, where researchers determined that the main cause of transmission of the “Nipah” infection is bats that have been shown to transmit other respiratory diseases, such as Corona.
Deadly Nipah symptoms
The World Health Organization had previously confirmed that there are no vaccines for the treatment of the “Nipah” virus, which spreads through body fluids and can cause inflammation in the brain. She said the usual treatment for the virus is to provide supportive care.
In this context, Dr. Antoine Al-Ashqar, a specialist in chest and respiratory diseases, confirms, in an interview with Al-Araby, that the virus directly affecting the lungs affects breathing, with the possibility of infecting the nervous system and putting the infected person in a coma, which explains the high death rate. .
Al-Ashqar added that the matter is worrying the World Health Organization in the absence of an appropriate vaccine, although infections are still limited in Southeast Asia, but if those infections are not well prevented, then fears will increase dramatically.
Fears of the spread of infection in Brazil
And fears of viral infection carried by bats moved from India to Brazil, which has the third largest number of bat species in the world, and this may be the reason behind the researchers’ statement that “humankind was fortunate to avoid a large viral spread in the tropical region within the Brazilian Amazon forests until now”.
“If it does not happen now, there may be other outbreaks in the future, and we will end up in the situation we are in today,” says Sebastien Charno, a professor at the Institute of Biology at the University of Brasilia.
Researchers believe that the clearing of large areas of the Amazon forest causes stress and stress in bats, which increases the possibility of infection spreading from the Amazon regions to the rest of Brazil and from there to the world.
Dr. Al-Ashqar explained that the spread of this virus is seasonal. In Bangladesh, it spread during the season of vinegar juice, due to the lack of cleanliness of the juicers, which means that prevention is the basis for limiting Nipah.
Al-Ashqar pointed out the need to wash foodstuffs, and to be aware that there should be no holes in fruits and vegetables caused by bats. It is also better to boil raw juice, which is a rapid carrier of any virus.
2023-05-22 08:00:53
#Global #fears #corona. #Nipah #virus #threaten #human #health
