The Nipah Virus Threat Emerges, Pharmaceutical Companies Are Not Ready To Deal With It

Illustrated photo (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - After the COVID-19 virus, the threat of the Nipah virus has emerged which made the largest pharmaceutical company in the world unprepared for the next possible pandemic.

As reported by VOI from The Guardian, a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, The Access to Medicine Foundation explained that the plague of the Nipah virus in China has a death rate of up to 75 percent and has the potential to become the next major pandemic.

"The Nipah virus is another infectious disease that is emerging and of great concern", said the Executive Director of the Access to Medicine Foundation, Jayasree K.

Jayasree explained the Nipah virus could explode at any time and the next pandemic could possibly become a drug-resistant infection.

The Nipah virus is known to cause severe respiratory problems, brain swelling, and a death rate of 40 percent to 75 percent, depending on where the outbreak occurs.

It should be noted, the Nipah virus is now one of 10 infectious diseases - out of the 16 diseases identified by WHO - with a high public health risk.

The Access to Medicine Foundation in its report for the last two years explained that there was no project to handle the Nipah virus by a pharmaceutical company.

Some viruses that are less contagious, such as Mers and Sars, but which have a much higher death rate than COVID-19, are also not included in pharmaceutical company projects.

Based on this report, an example can be taken in the case of the Coronavirus pandemic. Before it became a global health emergency, there were warnings of the possible emergence of the virus and in the end, no one was ready to face the COVID-19 pandemic.