Ten deaths have been confirmed in Kerala from the Nipah virus and two persons are critical, the state government said on Tuesday. The infection is believed to have started with a family in Kozhikode, in which two brothers and another woman have died. Officials say around 94 people have been quarantined inside their homes. Some nine people are under surveillance in hospitals. No new case has been reported in the last 24 hours, said Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja. Of 18 samples tested for the virus, 12 were found positive.
"source from Indian express"
Nipah virus
"Nipah virus (NiV) is a member of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus. NiV was initially isolated and identified in 1999 during an outbreak of encephalitis and respiratory illness among pig farmers and people with close contact with pigs in Malaysia and Singapore. Its name originated from Sungai Nipah, a village in the Malaysian Peninsula where pig farmers became ill with encephalitis. Given the relatedness of NiV to Hendra virus, bat species were quickly singled out for investigation and flying foxes of the genus Pteropus were subsequently identified as the reservoir for NiV (Distribution Map)."
1999 outbreak
"Nipah virus caused a relatively mild disease in pigs, but nearly 300 human cases with over 100 deaths were reported. In order to stop the outbreak, more than a million pigs were euthanized, causing tremendous trade loss for Malaysia. Since this outbreak, no subsequent cases (in neither swine nor human) have been reported in either Malaysia or Singapore."
2001 outbreak
" NiV was again identified as the causative agent in an outbreak of human disease occurring in Bangladesh. Genetic sequencing confirmed this virus as Nipah virus, but a strain different from the one identified in 1999. In the same year, another outbreak was identified retrospectively in Siliguri, India with reports of person-to-person transmission in hospital settings (nosocomial transmission). Unlike the Malaysian NiV outbreak, outbreaks occur almost annually in Bangladesh and have been reported several times in India."
Transmission
From bats, animals, human to human
Symptoms
High fever, head ache after 5 to 14 days exposure. Death rates of 75 to 90%
Treatment
Only supportive care.
Vaccination
None
Source " CDC"
https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/nipah/index.html
WHO information
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/nipah/en/