Another Fatal Nipah Virus Case Reported in India

According to media reporting, a student in southern India has died after being infected with the Nipah virus. As of September 14, 2024, 151 people in contact with the student are now being monitored.

India reported its last fatal Nipah case in July 2024.

According to the World Helath Organization (WHO), the first Nipah virus disease outbreak in India was reported in Siliguri in 2001. State authorities alerted Mysuru, Mangaluru, Chamarajanagar, and Kodagu districts in Karnataka, which borders Kerala state.

Currently, the WHO and other health agencies have not issued travel advisories regarding Nipah outbreaks.

The WHO says Nipah has a relatively high case-fatality ratio and is an emerging zoonotic disease of public health importance in the South East Asia and Western Pacific WHO Regions. It was first identified during an outbreak in Malaysia in 1998.

In June 2023, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations invested up to U.S. $100 million in four Nipah vaccine candidate projects. These candidates include live-attenuated and replication-defective recombinant vaccine platforms based on poxviruses, VSV, adenovirus, measles, rabies, and virus-like particles and subunit vaccines.

As of September 17, 2024, neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration nor the European Medicines Agency has authorized a vaccine candidate for the Nipah virus, but clinical trials are ongoing.