Nipah Virus in India: ICMR-NIV team finds Nipah Virus antibodies in bats from Mahabaleshwar cave; Details

In India, massive fruit-eating bats referred to as Pteropus medius bats are considered the trigger for the virus. (Representational picture)

Nipah virus: The Indian Council of Medical Analysis (ICMR)- Nationwide Institute of Virology carried out a cross-sectional survey to review Nipah Virus (NiV) and its prevalence within the nation’s bats. Through the survey, samples of some species of bats present in a collapse Maharashtra’s Mahabaleshwar have been picked up, during which antibodies in opposition to NiV are current, in line with a report in IE. The event is critical as a result of NiV has been included within the precedence checklist of high 10 pathogens recognized by the WHO. India has until now seen 4 totally different outbreaks of NiV.

Whereas the primary occasion of NiV an infection had been reported in West Bengal’s Siliguri in 2001, the second episode was reported from the identical state’s Nadia in 2007. The report added that NiV antibodies have been current in Assam’s Dubri district and in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar, each of that are situated near India’s border with Bangladesh. A 3rd outbreak of the virus in 2018 in Kerala’s Kozhikode was reported during which 18 folks died. One other wave of the virus additionally struck Kerala in 2019 as nicely.

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A research carried out in 2018 had stated that many international locations in South East Asia, together with some states in India as nicely, may very well be recognized as hotspots for the illness brought on by Nipah Virus.

In India, massive fruit-eating bats referred to as Pteropus medius bats are considered the trigger for the virus, as each the RNA of NiV in addition to its antibodies have been discovered to be current within the samples collected from these bats throughout outbreaks. Nevertheless, it is very important word that research on different bat species being potential reservoirs of the virus haven’t been carried out extensively in India.

The research, referred to as “Detection of attainable Nipah virus an infection in Rousettus leschenaultii and Pipistrellus Pipistrellus bats in Maharashtra, India”, has been printed in Journal of An infection and Public Well being. For this, two species of bats, viz “Rousettus leschenaultii” that are medium-sized fruit-eating bats and “Pipistrellus pipistrellus” that are tiny insectivorous bats, have been trapped from a Mahabaleshwar collapse March final yr after which anaesthetised onsite. Following this, blood, rectal and throat swab samples have been collected from these bats.

The crew discovered the presence of NiV RNA to be current in a lot of samples, and the identical was the case for antibodies. Nevertheless, one bat of every of the 2 species was discovered to have each the RNA and the antibodies, the report added, citing NIV scientist Dr Pragya Yadav as saying that this marked the primary demonstration of the potential of NiV an infection in R leschenaultii bats within the nation.

Researchers have now stated that this discovering warrants an additional research into this facet as no conclusion might be reached from the present survey contemplating the small screening pattern of bats.