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Nipah virus outbreak in India This is one of the latest worrying threats to public health. This virus is classified as one of the following viruses Pathogen That May cause an epidemic or pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The pathogen belongs to the following species bat live Asia, Africa and Oceania, and it didn’t bother anyone.But human existence came into being changes in environment and facilitate the escape or spread of the virus from the population reservoirsuch as bats, and against other species such as pigs and humans.
Now, There are more risks Pathogen leakage – because they have been described or remain unknown – and affect humans and other species, depending Scientists from the United States, Brazil and Argentina Consultants database.
In the area Zoonotic infections may also emerge or re-emerge in Latin America.
he Nipah He was not the only one involved in the spread of the incident.The world is facing a All human zoonotic diseases of Avian InfluenzaThe infection developed further after the emergence of new strains in 2020 and has killed millions of wild and domestic birds and mammals, These include more than 24,000 sea lions off the coasts of Peru, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. It can affect humans (only 9 cases have been reported in the world so far).
An outbreak of the virus was declared in Equatorial Guinea, East Africa, last February. marburg virus, 12 of the 17 confirmed cases died. Tanzania has also experienced another outbreak, with a case fatality rate as high as 67%. In January this year, the Ebola virus epidemic in Uganda was brought under control, resulting in the deaths of 47% of those infected.
he poxvirus – Previously known to cause Monkeypox——It is still circulating in the world. Its spread was the reason for the declaration of an international public health emergency (now discontinued). However, the number of weekly reported cases globally increased by 328% in the week ending September 10, according to the World Health Organization. Most of the growth is happening in ChinaMore than 500 new cases were reported in August.
he coronavirus What causes this disease Coronavirus disease Still causing the pandemic that started in 2020. In August last year, there were more than 1.4 million new cases and more than 1,800 deaths.
“Bat species predate humans and coexist with pathogens. But over the past few decades, humans have invaded territories and disrupted ecosystems. The most serious problem is that when they escape to humans, the viruses no longer It requires bats as hosts and can spread globally.” database doctor Thomas AldunaFJ Muñiz Former Head of the Tropical Medicine and Travel Medicine Service, Hospital of Infectious Diseases, Member of the Scientific Committee of the Organization Healthy World Foundation.
“The spread of zoonotic viruses from wildlife to humans has been happening for a long time, and most of the time we don’t notice or have the ability to detect the specific viruses causing outbreaks,” he said. database doctor Jonathan Epsteinveterinarian and epidemiologist and vice president of science and communications Ecological Health Alliance In the United States, he researched and published extensively on the escape and prevention of various pathogens around the world.
“We now have very good technology to detect and track viruses that cause outbreaks in humans or animals, but we still don’t always pay attention. We know that viruses, for example Acne For decades, but only recently have epidemics been considered a priority for surveillance and response, and this is happening around the world,” he said.
As far as Mpox is concerned, the suspicion is a group of rodents They will become reservoirs for viruses. Regarding the new coronavirus, the two main hypotheses are natural zoonotic transmission that occurred at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, and a laboratory leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Certain species of bats are hosts for Ebola and Marburg viruses.
Dr Epstein warned that “the frequency of outbreaks is increasing and will continue to do so as long as people continue to put pressure on the natural environment through changes in land use, such as deforestation, putting us humans at odds with our Livestock are more closely related and have more frequent contact with wildlife.”
He noted: “Most zoonotic disease outbreaks are caused by human activities. Most importantly, we must recognize that we must change the way we impact the natural world to reduce the risk of epidemics.”
in the case of Nipah is an example of a warning. “Appear in Malaysia In the late 1990s, intensive pig production lacked adequate biosecurity and the orchards were located next to pig pens. Fruit trees attract large fruit bats, which are natural hosts for the Nipah virus. In turn, proximity to trees allows chewed and bitten fruit contaminated with saliva, urine or bat guano to fall into pens where pigs can eat,” he explains.
Additionally, farmers “used to feed their livestock fruit that fell on the ground and could not be sold, creating more opportunities for pigs to be exposed to Nipah virus and other bat-related viruses.”
Because the orchards are so close to livestock housing, an interface develops between bats and pigs. The size of the farm (more than 30,000 pigs) allowed Nipah virus outbreaks to persist and farmers became infected. Infected pigs were also moved from one farm to another, exacerbating the spread of Nipah virus throughout Malaysia and even Singapore.
In Bangladesh, Nipah virus outbreaks occur every year. The main mode of reproduction is the sap of the date palm tree. It is a sweet drink that is collected by scraping the bark of cultivated date trees and allowing the sap to flow into clay pots overnight. The same type of bats that spread Nipah virus in Malaysia also exists in India.
“In parts of Bangladesh and India, the bat has learned that date palm juice is also a good food resource, especially during winter harvest. “Now the bats are eating less and less other fruits,” he said.
The sap creates an artificial food source that would otherwise be unavailable to these bats, but which they have learned to use. People become infected by consuming contaminated juice. Infections can be transmitted from bats to humans through the food route, or from bats to livestock and then to humans.
Meanwhile, doctors Mariana Valleyresearcher at the Department of Ecology Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, He also agreed that the number of leaks or spills has been increasing as human behavior increases contact between people and new pathogens that previously circulated only in animals.He specified the risks Latin America.
“One of the main spreading factors is changes in land use, especially deforestation, followed by changes in livestock farming and globalization. In Latin America, the first preventive measures should be to control the Amazon, Atlantic Forest, which is the largest forest in the world ) of deforestation. atlantic forest Exist in southwestern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina) and Central America”, Dr. Weil noted that he and Dr. Epstein published a study in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) journal Emerging Diseases.
“More research is needed on viruses circulating in wild animals, as South America is the region with the largest gaps in knowledge in this area. More effective controls on wildlife trafficking and the trade in wild animal meat are also necessary,” the scientist stressed .
He noted that the areas at highest risk for pathogens escaping causing outbreaks are the Amazon and Atlantic Forest.
The release of pathogens is “even more dangerous for humans because globalization allows them to spread easily around the world,” he said. Guilherme Wernecke informationPh.D., Immunology and Infectious Diseases Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor Department of Epidemiology, State University of Rio de Janeiroin Brazil
“It is true that the world has become increasingly effective in applying new methods to deal with new epidemics. However, preventive measures are still very insufficient and I don’t think they are being prioritized around the world,” Wernecke said.