Nipah Virus
In 1998, Nipah virus first emerged in Malaysian pigs as a respiratory and neurology disease and then jumped to humans with lethal consequences.
Nipah virus can cause severe encephalitis and vascular disease in people, and in the Malaysia outbreak, those with virus infections had a mortality of about 40 percent.
More than 100 people died.
Essentially all of those who became infected had direct contact with pigs, either in pig-rearing facilities or in slaughter houses.
The rapid spread of Nipah virus among pig farms throughout peninsular Malaysia and into Singapore was more likely caused by an intense sell-off of infected pigs following the initial outbreak.
In order to control outbreak, millions of pigs were slaughtered, hundreds of farms were closed, and tens thousands of jobs lost Nipah virus cost the Malaysia government more than $350 million and destroyed the live-hoods of countless numbers of people.
The origin of Nipah virus has been traced back to two native species of fruit bats or “flying foxes” from the genus Pteropus (and the family Pteropodidae) the Malayan Flying Fox – Pteropus vampyrus, which is ubiquitous through peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, and Thailand, and the Variable Flying Fix – P. hypomelanus.
Pteroped bats, which do not develop clinical signs of disease when infected with Nipah virus are considered the natural reservoir for henipaviruses the vital genus to which Nipah belongs) and have most likely co-evolved with these viruses over time.
The range includes the Old World typical regions, from Madagascar eastward through Southeast Asia, Australia and the South Pacific Island.
The bats serve vital roles in tropical ecosystems acting as seed disperses and pollinators for rainforest plants.
Hunting and deforestation threaten this ecologically important group of animals throughout their range.
Nipah Virus
