Nipah Virus Outbreak Eyed as Trigger of the Next Pandemic; Is Our Healthcare Sector Ready to Face Another Zoonotic Disease?

The coronavirus risked global health not just through its destructive potential but also due to the lack of information and the doubt over appropriate preparedness slated since the pandemic surged. Although most regions in East and Southeast Asia had the gist of dealing with a widescale health risk during the 2003 SARS outbreak, they could not perfectly enable their defenses, and a lot of casualties still overlapped the expected rates. Due to what the world observed and experienced throughout the pandemic, it is necessary to know more and prepare a competent response in the event that another pandemic spreads globally.

What is Nipah Virus and How Likely It Could Cause a COVID-Like Pandemic

(Photo: Andrew Mercer / WikiCommons)

Nipah virus is being eyed by many health authorities and scientific experts today. A recent outbreak of the specified virus in India stirred theories about how every country should prepare for a worse threat. And even though it may be considered taboo for some, many people are aware of the risks that future infections might have in store for us and corresponding ideas to what we can do about it.

COVID-19 vaccines are the greatest breakthrough that was developed since the pandemic started. Through the implementation of vaccination, the cases did drop for many countries, and most of the industrial and social activities are gradually coming back to normal. Despite the threats of SARS-CoV-2's multiple mutations, the availability of vaccines provides a much transparent path to ensure public health safety and decrease the cases compared to the first few waves where global health authorities are stunned, and empty answers are at hand. Although a batch of prepared vaccines presents the most effective solution for an upcoming pandemic, predicting a novel type of virus is still either challenging or impossible.

The first detected case of the Nipah virus was charted in Malaysia back in 1998. The case seems to be far behind the clock, but a recent Science Times report confirmed a new outbreak of the same virus. The worst part is that it took the life of a 12-year-old boy in India. Due to the unexpected event, many experts expressed their scientific concerns over the matter. Like the coronavirus, the Nipah virus might mutate following its initial presentation and could be transmitted to a wider population if not acknowledged as early as today.

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Nipah Virus and the Preparedness of the Global Health Protocols

Nipah virus shares a similar zoonotic feature with COVID-19. However, the Nipah virus is considered paramyxovirus, a devastating type of virus that could inflict health conditions as much as the coronavirus. Paramyxovirus can impact an individual's health through an acute respiratory disease, and like the coronavirus, it could be transmitted through airborne droplets. Among the most common hosts of the Nipah virus are bats and flying foxes located at the hearts of South and Southeast Asia.

According to a study published in the journal PNAS, titled "Nipah virus dynamics in bats and implications for spillover to humans," most of the Nipah virus transmissions occur by either drinking raw date palm sap or simply by the presence of an overwhelming bat population in an area. The cases of coronavirus highlight the fact that transmissions and mutations are most frequent in human-to-human contacts, and not just by natural interactions.

Today, the known spread of the Nipah virus is recorded only from close contact with the primary patient. University of Reading's virology expert Ian Jones said in an IFL Science report that while the Nipah virus does not pose any threat of a global pandemic today, awareness and improvement of public health protocols should still be secured.