Rare Deadly Virus Spreading in India, Warnings of Global Epidemic

[nivek]

Rare deadly virus kills more than a dozen in India, health officials warn it could cause global epidemic

Another patient has died in India from the Nipah virus, taking the number of fatalities from an outbreak of the rare disease to 13, authorities said Sunday.

Emergency measures have been imposed to curb the spread of the virus, with dozens of patients quarantined since the outbreak was detected this month.

Health experts have been flown to Kerala to help contain the virus, which has a mortality rate of 70 percent and no vaccine.

The World Health Organization has listed it as one of the eight priority diseases that could cause a global epidemic, alongside Ebola and Zika.

 

[nivek]

Here's more information on this deadly virus, there is no cure for it currently...

What we know about the deadly Nipah virus

Those infected suffer a quick onset of symptoms, including fever, vomiting, disorientation, mental confusion, encephalitis and — in up to 70 percent of cases, depending on the strain — ultimately death.

Virologists who have studied Nipah’s behavior in animals think that in humans, it initially targets the respiratory system before spreading to the nervous system and brain. Most patients who die succumb to an inflammation of blood vessels and a swelling of the brain that occurs in the later stages of the disease.

But “anytime the virus is inside a human, it has the opportunity to evolve and adapt to that human-specific environment,” Luby says. The worst-case scenario is a future strain that can transmit more quickly or easily among humans, which is why the WHO and global health experts are urging more research into vaccines and treatments.