A 14-year-old has died from the Nipah virus. The pathogen is causing concern among experts and there is no vaccine.
Frankfurt – In South India the Nipah virus is spreadingThe Robert Koch Institute has already warned travelers. At the end of July, a 14-year-old boy died after being infected with the dangerous virus. Onmanorama in India. The authorities are alarmed – does the virus have what it takes to trigger the next pandemic?
The teenager was out with four friends around two kilometres from his home in Pandikkad on a holiday in mid-July when the boys went swimming in a canal and ate velvet plums from a tree. As it later emerged, fruit bats apparently come there regularly to snack on the fruit. The animals, which belong to the anthias along with bats, are natural carriers of the dangerous Nipah virus and are believed to have contaminated the fruit with their saliva or feces.
Deadly Nipah virus: Boy dies 15 days after infection
A week later, the boy was admitted to hospital with symptoms and was transferred several times until he finally died on July 21. The other boys who had also eaten the fruit tested negative for the virus.
Loud WHO The virus first broke out in Malaysia in 1999. In India, there were further outbreaks in 2001, 2007 and 2018. According to the WHO, two people died from the virus last year, and a total of more than 100 There have been fatalities.
How dangerous is the Nipah virus?
According to WHO information, the mortality rate is between 40 and 100 percent.
Transmission from person to person is possible – for example through saliva or other bodily fluids.
Fruit bats are natural carriers of the virus, but pigs also often carry the pathogen.
The virus can survive on the skin of fruit for up to 30 hours.
There is currently no vaccine or effective medication against the Nipah virus. Experts say there is an urgent need and warn that Nipah could trigger the next pandemic. The virus first attacks the respiratory system, then the central nervous system.
Could the Nipah virus cause the next pandemic? Many people no longer even think about it – but Corona viruses are also coming back. (Building)
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