Nipah virus kills 231 in two decades, one dies in early Jan: IEDCR

Staff Reporter :
Outbreak of Nipah virus is usually spread in the winter season, while one person has already died of the virus in Bangladesh early January this year.
A total of 231 people died out of 325 identified cases in the country between 2001 and 2022.
Nipah virus was first discovered in 1998 in Malaysia and was first seen in Bangladesh in 2001.
A woman, who died of Nipah virus in the first 10 days of this year, hailing from Rajshahi, had a history of consuming raw date juice.
Besides, three cases of Nipah virus were detected in 2022, two of whom died.
Speakers at a conference titled “Contagious diseases of winter and Nipah virus infection” organised by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) disclosed it on Wednesday.
Director of IEDCR Professor Tahmina Shirin said Nipah virus spreads though the saliva or urine of bats in this country. People get infected with the virus when they drink raw date juice which is contaminated.
That person then spreads the infection to their family members or health workers.
“Raw date juice and half-eaten fruits should not be consumed,” said Dr Tahmina Shirin.
The IEDCR director also said, “71 per cent of people infected with Nipah virus succumb to their death. So, people should avoid consuming raw date juice.”
The speakers at the conference also said that, it takes eight to nine days after consuming the juice to show symptoms of Nipah virus infection. In case of human-to-human transmission, symptoms appear after 6-11 days.
According to IEDCR’s researchers, date juice is safe to drink after heating up
and so is molasses. The organisation also advised date juice collectors to wash their hands with soap after collecting the juice.
Nipah virus cases were detected from 20 districts of Bangladesh from 2001 to 2011, which are situated mostly in the north western part. Although up to 2011 Nipah cases were initially found in these 20 districts, subsequent cases were found beyond these 20 districts.
As a result, up to 2021, cases were found in 32 districts of Bangladesh. Highest numbers (71) of cases were detected from Faridpur district followed by Rajbari (30), Naogaon (25) and Lalmonirhat district (24).
Historically, the first Nipah case was detected in Meherpur district in May, 2001, the second outbreak was detected in Naogaon in January, 2003.