Nipah Virus Infection : A Newly Emerging Disease

The Nipah infection is just one of over 40 new diseases that have emerged since the 1970s. Nipah virus (NiV) disease is a newly discovered infection of swine and humans that emerged in Malaysia in September 1998. The epidemic started in the northern Malaysian state of Perak and the disease was named after Kampung Sungai Nipah (Nipah River Village) where the first viral isolate was obtained (Chua et al., 1999). NiV causes severe illness, characterized by inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) or respiratory diseases. Respiratory signs predominate in pigs, that develop fever, nasal discharge, rapid and labored respiration with a notable, harsh non-producible cough, giving rise to the name ¿barking cough syndrome / one mile cough syndrome¿. It can cause significant economic losses to farmers. Other domestic animals like cats and dogs shown to be infected with Nipah virus (Hooper et al., 2001).Need to reinforce the improve preventive measures which include education of healthcare workers, veterinarians, and other first responders about infection control procedures and expanding the surveillance and laboratory capacity for rapid diagnosis of henipavirus in high risk areas.