What Is the Deadly Nipah Virus and Why Is It Flaring Up Again
Health workers shift a man with symptoms of Nipah virus to an isolation ward at a hospital in Kerala in Sept. 2023.
Photographer: AFP/Getty Images
India is once again on high alert after a fresh outbreak of the Nipah virus (NiV) left a 14-year-old boy dead in the southern state of Kerala. Close contacts tested for the disease have come back negative, according to local media, although health officials are taking no chances and many more contacts face monitoring.
The brain-damaging virus, which can spread from bats and pigs to humans, has surfaced in Kerala several times in recent years. In a 2018 outbreak, 21 people died before it was contained. The virus has previously been detected in countries including Singapore and Malaysia. Here’s what you need to know about it: