A young nurse infected during a recent outbreak of the brain-damaging Nipah virus has died in India after spending weeks in a coma, health officials confirmed — underscoring the severity of the disease even as experts stress the broader public risk remains limited.
The 25-year-old healthcare worker contracted the virus in late December after exposure linked to contaminated date palm sap — a known transmission route. Although she later tested negative, officials say she suffered cascading complications, including a lung infection and cardiac arrest, leading to her death. A colleague who was also infected recovered and was discharged last month.
The fatality marks the second reported death connected to the current outbreak in West Bengal. Separately, the World Health Organization confirmed that a woman in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, also died after infection. Encouragingly, none of her close contacts tested positive.
The virus — known medically as Nipah virus — is carried naturally by fruit bats and can spread through contaminated food or close human contact. It is notorious for causing inflammation of the brain, severe respiratory illness, and high fatality rates. Yet experts emphasize that its transmission pattern has historically remained localized.
Dr. Efstathios Giotis of the University of Essex noted that Nipah outbreaks have consistently been geographically contained.
“At present, the Nipah virus does not pose a risk to the UK. It does not spread easily between humans, which makes a global pandemic unlikely,” he said, stressing the importance of surveillance and rapid containment.
Historically, confirmed cases have been limited to Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. In response to the current outbreak, several countries — including Thailand, Nepal, Taiwan, and Pakistan — have stepped up airport health screening.
The UK Health Security Agency advises travelers heading to affected areas to avoid contact with fruit bats, thoroughly wash fruit, and refrain from drinking raw or partially fermented date palm sap — a frequent infection source.
Public health authorities continue to monitor the situation closely. For now, specialists agree that while Nipah is a dangerous virus, its limited human-to-human spread keeps the global threat level low — provided containment measures remain strong.
