A Review on Deadly Nipah Virus - Prevalence and its Management

Abstract

NiV is an emerging infectious disease caused by infected bats from the family of Paramyxoviridae. From its secretions the disease can be spread to humans or through close contact with infected humans. NiV was detected for the first time in 1998 in Malaysia. NiV have broad species tropism and potential that may evolve life threatening respiratory and/ or neurologic disease in humans and as well as in animals which make them important trans-boundary biological threats. The disease presented mainly as acute encephalitis with a short incubation period of less than two weeks (4 to 18 days), with the main symptoms of fever, headache and giddiness followed by coma. The major involvement of the lung and brain in NiV infection often manifested as an acute severe respiratory syndrome, encephalitis etc. In case of Henipavirus the diagnosis of infection is mainly based on the details of contact with diseased animals, evidence of encephalitis and or pneumonia, with serologic evidence of infection using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant (EIA) assay testing or polymerase chain reaction. The anti-viral drug Ribavirin is a well-known first line treatment strategy for suspected viral infections of unknown etiology. Based on a study conducted to discover whether combining monotherapeutic treatments with Ribavirin and Chloroquine would result in any protection indicative of favourable drug-drug interactions when treatment were initiated with lethal inoculums of NiV. The reason for multiple outbreaks may be due to low healthcare system capacity and robust surveillance strategy contributes to it. Multidisciplinary and multiple facet approach is vital in preventing the emergence of NiV. It is crucial to undertake rigorous research for developing vaccines and medicines to prevent and treat NiV.