Kolkata, Feb 14 (IANS) Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr Rajiv Bahl on Saturday praised the West Bengal government’s response to the recent Nipah virus case, stating that the state has worked effectively in coordination with the Centre to prevent its spread.Dr Bahl made the remarks during his visit to the ICMR-National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (ICMR-NIBMG) in Kolkata’s Kalyani area, where he attended an event to unveil the bust of Padma Vibhushan awardee D…
Latest Nipah virus News & Updates
Kolkata, Feb 12 (IANS) West Bengal on Thursday reported its first case of a Nipah virus-related death, after a nurse, who was affected by it and was admitted at the critical care unit of a hospital at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, passed away.State Health Department sources said that the deceased had developed a “secondary infection” in her lungs. Another nurse, also affected by the virus, was under treatment at the same hospital.These nurses have been the only two cases of persons bein…
New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) A team of researchers in Japan has announced a clinical trial to confirm a vaccine’s efficacy against the deadly Nipah virus in humans.The vaccine candidate developed at the University of Tokyo is set to start clinical trials in Belgium in April, Nikkei Asia, a Japan-based English-language news magazine, reported. The new vaccine offers a potential breakthrough against a disease whose fatality rate is estimated to be between 40 per cent and 75 per cent. Currently, there i…
Yangon, Feb 2 (IANS) Myanmar has intensified health screening and surveillance at Yangon International Airport to prevent the possible entry of the Nipah virus, the state-owned daily The Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Monday.In view of the ongoing outbreak of the Nipah virus in India’s West Bengal state, special attention is being given to travelers arriving from India, with health checks focusing on fever and other Nipah-related symptoms, the report said, citing the Ministry of Health….
New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) The risk of transmission of Nipah virus remains low, and there is no need for any travel or trade restrictions, said the World Health Organisation, noting that it is closely monitoring the deadly virus cases in India.In its latest Epidemiological Bulletin, the global health body reported two cases of Nipah virus in 25-year-old nurses — a woman and a man — working at the same private hospital in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.The WHO informed that the health…
Canberra, Jan 30 (IANS) Australia’s health minister said on Friday that the government is closely monitoring the outbreak of the Nipah virus in Asia.Mark Butler told Nine Network television that the Nipah virus has never been detected in Australia, but that authorities were taking the threat posed by an outbreak that began in India in December very seriously.”The Indian authorities tell us they’ve got that outbreak under control, but nonetheless, we’re monitoring it very, very closely, because t…
Singapore, Jan 29 (IANS) Singapore will step up health screening at Changi Airport after a Nipah virus outbreak in West Bengal, India, including temperature checks for flights from affected areas, authorities have said.Health advisories will be issued to travelers at Singapore’s points of entry, advising inbound travelers to seek medical attention if they feel unwell after travel, and providing outbound travelers guidance on health precautions, the Communicable Diseases Agency said in a statemen…
The WhatsApp forwards started before the official statements could catch up. “Nipah outbreak in Bengal!” “Hundreds infected!” “New pandemic coming!”…
Bangkok, Jan 26 (IANS) Thailand’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that it will implement comprehensive screening for all flights arriving from India’s West Bengal, a high-risk region for Nipah virus, starting from 00:00 local time on Monday to prevent the virus from entering the country.In a statement released on Sunday, the authority said the screening measures will be adjusted dynamically based on the evolving situation.Key protocols currently in place involve airlines conducting preliminar…
Kolkata, Jan 24 (IANS) The National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) has started conducting random RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests among the bats at the Zoological Garden at Alipore in south Kolkata to check whether these animals are carriers of Nipah virus.It was learnt on Saturday that a team from NIMR collected blood and swab samples from the bats at the zoo on Thursday and Friday mornings. The team collected the samples and left at the break of dawn.To trac…