Nipah is a deadly virus, killing more than half the people it infects. It originates in bats, crossing into humans who come in contact with them. It first causes fever, as do many other ailments, leaving health care workers with few early hints that they’re dealing with something contagious and potentially deadly.
“It” shares many characteristics with the Ebola virus rampaging through West Africa, but is called Nipah, after the village in Malaysia in which it was first detected in 1998. In 2001, it spread to one of the world’s most densely populated nations, Bangladesh, which packs 150 million people into a space the size of Wisconsin. Two hundred and eighty cases were detected through July of this year, 198 of which were fatal, a 71 percent mortality rate.
In Bangladesh, its spread was again traced to fruit bats, though the ailment infected people through a different route. Transmission to humans came through the practice of harvesting date palm sap.Investigation showed that the bats would fly to the trees and lick the date palm juice, infecting the containers hung on the trees to collect the sap.
Public health officials employed anthropologists’ expertise and consulted widely. The result was a plan to use bamboo mats to cover the collection jars, which kept the bats away. The officials also stepped up efforts to detect cases early and designed a series of public health messages appropriate for the local population. The messages warned against sharing food with sick people or eating their leftovers. The messages also advised people not to share beds with sick people or, if they must, to sleep with their backs to them so transmission was less likely. People also were told to wash their hands after caring for the sick.
Diseases like Ebola and Nipah will continue to cross from animals to humans, and public health officials should ferret out the lessons available in nations like Bangladesh.
