A Nipah virus outbreak - a virus with a mortality rate of up to 75% - recorded in West Bengal, eastern India, is raising concerns in China right before the Lunar New Year holiday - the peak period of domestic and foreign migration.
According to Indian media, at least 5 Nipah infections have been confirmed in West Bengal, including 1 patient in critical condition. This information quickly spread to China, causing topics related to the Nipah virus to rise to the popular group on social networks in this country on the first day of the week.
It's scary, especially when Tet is coming. I don't want to go through another blockade," a Chinese social network user commented. Another opinion even asked whether to "temporarily close the channel with India".
In a report released on January 23, the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called for "increased vigilance" against the risk of infectious diseases entering from abroad during the holidays such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya or Lassa fever. However, the Nipah virus is not on this list, although cases in India have been recorded by the media since mid-January.
There is currently no specific treatment or preventive vaccine for Nipah virus. Infected people may have no symptoms or have acute respiratory disease. The most dangerous complication is encephalitis, with neurological symptoms such as confusion, cognitive impairment, convulsions and coma, usually appearing after a few days to weeks from the onset of the disease.
However, Chinese health experts believe that the risk of the Nipah virus causing an outbreak in the country is relatively low.
Ms. Zhao Haiyan - a viralist at Wuhan University - said that since Nipah was discovered in 1998, many neighboring countries in India have recorded sporadic outbreaks almost annually, but China has never reported any intrusion cases.
According to Ms. Trieu, this does not mean the risk is zero, but it shows that Nipah has a much more limited transmission route than respiratory viruses that can spread strongly such as flu or COVID-19. Nipah mainly transmits to humans through direct contact with infected animals, especially bats and pigs, or through food contaminated with saliva, urine or animal feces.
Human-to-human transmission can occur but is often ineffective and requires close contact with the patient's body fluids in poor infection control conditions.
Despite assessing the risk as low, experts still emphasize the need to maintain strict control over invasive disease cases, while promoting research on antibody drugs and vaccines.
On the regional level, some countries have strengthened prevention. Thailand said that major airports have tightened the screening of inbound passengers, especially those from West Bengal.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that human Nipah outbreaks so far are mainly limited to South and Southeast Asia, but warned countries not to be subjective about the risk of cross-border epidemics.
