Are we about to live through a Nipah pandemic?

Preparedness — not fear — will decide how the next outbreak unfolds.

- Alex R. Cook and Leo Yee Sin

A Nipah patient being moved in the Indian state of Kerala in 2024. For now, at least, there is no reason to think spread of the Nipah virus cannot be controlled using the same tools used during the first outbreak of the virus in Malaysia and Singapore three decades ago, say the writers.

(PHOTO: REUTERS)

The news of two new confirmed cases of the Nipah virus in India’s West Bengal state — bringing the total to six — has created alarm across the world.

This comes just six years after similar fears were sparked in the Chinese city of Wuhan about a new coronavirus that was likewise making people very sick. Could the world be looking at the early days of a Nipah-26 pandemic?

Younger readers may not know, but almost 30 years ago, Singapore was affected by the world’s first outbreak of Nipah. That outbreak, which started in September 1998 in Malaysia and reached Singapore in March 1999, was limited to abattoir workers who had exposure to live imported pigs, and led to a death in Singapore.

Since that first outbreak in Malaysia and Singapore, we have learnt more about the Nipah virus. We know now that most cases will develop a fever, headache and signs of confusion, while respiratory symptoms are common.

We also know that it is mostly a zoonosis, meaning that cases in people are usually linked to contact with animals. In both West Bengal and Bangladesh, regular human infections have been linked to accidental exposure to the urine of fruit bats contaminating collection pots for palm sap harvested for human consumption.

With all this news, and with airports introducing border measures, do Singaporeans need to be alarmed?

HOW MUCH SHOULD WE FEAR NIPAH?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the movie Contagion had a second wave of popularity, perhaps due to its parallels with what we were all going through.