JAKARTA - Nipah virus in India is considered rare, scary, and strangely often ignored. Most people in India may be familiar with dengue fever, malaria, COVID-19, to Zika.
But if you say the Nipah virus, usually people just stare blankly. This is quite strange, because Nipah is one of the deadliest viruses known. This virus is not new and has appeared in India more than once.
Nipah is a virus that is transmitted from animals to humans. Fruit bats are the main carriers. They are not sick, but can transmit the virus through saliva, urine, or partially eaten fruit. Humans can be infected by eating contaminated fruit, drinking uncooked palm sap, or close contact with an infected person.
Since December 2025, two cases of Nipah virus infection have been reported in West Bengal. Following that, several countries in Asia have tightened checks at airports. Thailand and Nepal have even increased health screening for passengers.
India has already experienced an outbreak of Nipah. The first recorded outbreak occurred in West Bengal in the early 2000s, near the Bangladesh border. Several years later, Kerala reported cases starting in 2018. Since then, Kerala has experienced several small outbreaks and isolated cases.
After infecting humans, the condition can deteriorate very quickly. Symptoms include fever, headache, respiratory distress, to drowsiness. In many cases, even experiencing brain inflammation. The death rate is quite high in some outbreaks, more than half of the infected patients die.
"Nipah first settles in the human body through replication in the upper respiratory tract before spreading to the bloodstream. From there, the virus can infect the cardiovascular system and various other parts of the body," said Dr. Deep Das, a neurologist at CK Birla Hospitals, quoted from the Times of India website on Saturday, January 31, 2026.
Dr. Das explained that one of the most dangerous properties of Nipah is its ability to damage blood vessels. This virus causes inflammation of blood vessels that allows the virus to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and reach the brain.
"Nipah virus causes extreme brain inflammation which leads to brain swelling and develops into encephalitis," he said.
Symptoms of Nipah infection usually begin with fever, muscle pain, and headache, but can progress to confusion, lethargy, seizures, and loss of consciousness. Severe brain swelling causes the body to lose control over vital functions such as breathing and heartbeat.
"The medical classification of Nipah infection requires immediate diagnosis, intensive isolation, and complete critical and neurological care because the disease can progress to a life-threatening stage quickly, increasing the risk of death," added Dr. Deep.
Being aware of the danger of this virus does not mean panic. It means people know the importance of washing fruits, avoiding raw sap water, and reporting symptoms from the start. That is, do not ignore high-risk viruses just because they have not exploded into a major outbreak.
Because when the virus has a high death rate, even a few cases are a serious problem.
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