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Airports in Asia have reinstated Covid-like health checks due to a Nipah virus outbreak in West Bengal. With two confirmed cases, Thailand, Nepal, and Taiwan have enhanced screening for travellers.
Nipah scare prompted airports across parts of Asia to reintroduce Covid-style health checks. In West Bengal, the outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus, which possibly spreads from animals to humans, took place. It was initially detected among health workers. After two confirmed cases surfaced, Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan ramped up screening of travellers at airports.
Thailand's three airports that have connecting flights with West Bengal have begun the screening process, BBC reported. In addition to Thailand, Nepal also upped its safety checks for arrivals at Kathmandu airport and other land border points with India. This fatal virus, which has no vaccine or medicine to treat it, causes death among 40% to 75% infected persons.
The virus is found in animals such as bats and pigs and spreads to humans when there is close contact.
AIIMS Bilaspur president Professor Dr Narendra Kumar Arora on 26 January described it as a highly infectious and fatal zoonotic disease. Asserting that it poses serious public health risks, the AIIMS doctor said, “Nipah virus is a zoonotic disease. These sporadic outbreaks have occurred in both Kerala and West Bengal. Even Bangladesh is endemic for the Nipah virus," ANI reported.
Suggesting that there is currently no vaccine available to treat the virus, he added, "Nipah virus is highly infectious and fatal. Patients either develop symptoms of encephalitis or severe respiratory disease. The mortality rate ranges between 40 and 75 per cent, which is very high." He declared Kerala and West Bengal endemic for this virus.
If any Nipah virus case is diagnosed, the patient must be given monoclonal antibodies as soon as possible, Dr Arora said. However, there is a very limited supply of these monoclonal antibodies globally.
Symptoms of Nipah infection
According to Ex-President of IMA Cochin and Convener of the Research Cell Kerala, Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, the initial symptoms of Nipah infection are fever, body ache and headache.
"People who develop brain infection after that (initial symptoms), they may get seizures or epilepsy, confusion, paralysis or coma. The symptoms are similar to those of other types of brain infection caused by other viruses. Sometimes a diagnosis of Nipah can be missed because it is not specifically tested for. The problem with Nipah is that it can also spread from patient to patient. So it's extremely important to identify the first patient who develops the infection," ANI quoted Dr Rajeev Jayadevan as saying.
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