A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ON FACT SHEET AND PHARMACOEPIDEMOLOGY DIAGNOSIS, TRANSMISSION, MANAGEMENT AND PREVENTION OF NIPAH VIRUS

Dr.G.V.Nagaraju, Dr.G.V.Pawan Kumar, Dr.Naga Subrahmanayam.S,, Dr.Malyadri Y., Dr. S.Pradeep Kumar Reddy and T. Santhi Kishore.

ABSTRACT

The Nipah virus is closely related to Hendra virus (HeV) and Cedar virus. They are the three recognized species members of the genus Henipavirus, a new class of virus in the Paramyxoviridae family. Nipah is an envelope, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus, with a genome sequence size of about 18,000 nucleotides. Humans, pigs, bats, dogs, cats, goats and horses are sensible to NiV infection. Fruit bats (Macrochiroptera) of the family Pteropodidae-particularly species belonging to the Pteropus genus–are the natural hosts for Nipah virus. Intensive agriculture has been implicated in the transmission of the deadly Nipah virus to humans. Nipah virus has been found in urine and uterine fluids of wild pteropid bats, experimentally isolated from urine, kidney and uterus of infected bats. Virus may be found in fruit or juice (e.g. unpasteurised date palm sap) contaminated with bat saliva or urine. Other sources for infection are contaminated drinking water and aborted bat foetuses or other fluids/tissues of parturition. The incubation period generally varies from four days to 2 weeks, but may be extended up to 45 - 60 days. The clinical course is characterized by high fever followed by seizure and death due to encephalitis or respiratory disease. Serum Neutralisation (SN) tests is designated as the reference standard for anti-henipavirus antibody detection. There are currently no antiviral drugs or vaccines available to treat Nipah virus infection for either people or animals. Intensive supportive care with treatment of symptoms is the main approach to managing the infection in people. Experimentally, the therapeutic use of a neutralizing human monoclonal antibody. There is no vaccine against Nipah virus. Prevention of Nipah virus infection relies on veterinary measures in domestic animals and public health education.

Keywords: Nipah Virus, Paramyxoviridae family, fruit, juice, antibody, Serum Neutralisation.