Thai consulate issues health warning as Nipah virus spreads in West Bengal

The Thai Consulate General in Kolkata, India, has issued a warning regarding an outbreak of the Nipah virus, advising Thai nationals in the area, especially Thai pilgrims planning to travel to Bodh Gaya and nearby areas in Bihar state, to exercise caution and closely monitor developments related to the outbreak.

The warning was issued after a Nipah virus outbreak was reported in West Bengal state on January 12, resulting in five confirmed infections among Indian nationals in Kolkata.

The consulate also urged Thai nationals to remain vigilant against the Nipah virus and to avoid consuming unhygienic food.

Those travelling to West Bengal are advised to maintain good personal hygiene and to avoid eating fruit, unhygienic food and all types of raw food. At present, no infections have been reported among Thai nationals.

Although no cases of Nipah virus infection have been detected in Thailand to date, the Department of Disease Control has imposed health screening measures on all arrivals from Kolkata, the capital of the West Bangal, India, as a precaution.

Meanwhile, Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, said that Nipah virus infection is not a newly emerging disease.

It was first reported and identified in 1998 during a major outbreak in Malaysia, in which more than 100 people died.

Dr Yong said the emergence of the zoonotic disease in Malaysia was believed to be linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon in 1998, which caused widespread drought and extensive forest fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island.

Smoke from the fires forced fruit-eating bats to migrate north into Malaysia.

The bats’ partially eaten fruit, contaminated with their saliva, as well as their droppings, fell onto pig farms and were consumed by pigs.

The pigs subsequently became infected with the Nipah virus, and humans who were in close contact with them were also infected.

Most of the patients were pig farmers, pork butchers or truck drivers who transported animals to slaughterhouses, Dr Yong said.

He added that the virus was named after the Sungai Nipah River, where the first Nipah virus infection was reported.

To prevent the disease from spreading, more than one million pigs were culled.

The outbreak later spread southward to Singapore but not to northern Malaysia, as the population there is predominantly Muslim and does not consume pork, he explained.

Dr Yong advised that the best way to protect against infection is to avoid contact with wild animals, especially fruit-eating bats, and to refrain from eating fruit that has fallen from trees or shows signs of being bitten.