Early Stage Of The Emergence Of The Nipah Virus: In The Nipoh River, A Village In A Neighboring State

Nipah River (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Health experts are wary of the Nipah virus (NiV) as a new epidemic threat to countries in Asia. The Nipah virus is of great concern because it is said to be more deadly than COVID-19. The death rate is also high, reaching 75 percent.

Nipah is not a new type of virus. The existence of this virus has been discovered since 22 years ago: 1999. This virus first appeared in a village in Malaysia, to be precise in the Nipah River, Ipoh, Perak State.

Initially, the Nipah virus was thought to have originated from the Japanese encephalitis vaccine. Japanese facilities are an early control to prevent virus facilities.

Vaccines that were ineffective in preventing transmission were then associated with the emergence of the Nipah virus. Lai-Meng Looi and Kaw-Bing Chua from the University of Malaya conducted research on the Nipah virus.

In his research, it was reported that the Nipah virus first infected a citizen in Malaysia in September 1998, launched from CNN. Initially, the Nipah virus only infected the Sungai Nipah village. However, over time this virus spread to nearby countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore.

In their research, Kai and Kaw stated that this virus was probably transmitted by bats to pigs in late 1997 or early 1998. Transmission occurs through contamination of fruit excretions eaten by mackerel and falling into pig farms.

The excretion of bats to pigs is caused by the migration of bats from the forest to fruit orchards and pig farms. The failure of the fertilization process due to the long dry season and anthropogenic fires is the reason the bats migrate.

A journal published in The Malaysian Journal of Pathology in January 2008 revealed the symptoms experienced by people with the Nipah virus. When it first struck, people who were infected with this virus complained of high fever and breathing.

In their research, Kai and Kaw also noted efforts to prevent the Nipah virus at that time. "As a consequence, early control efforts were made, including fogging to repel mosquitoes and vaccinating pigs. However ineffective".

A place at the center of the spread of the Nipah virus, Ipoh reported 15 deaths, with a positive diagnosis of NiV in nine people. In February 1999, this virus then spread to the area around Ipoh and several other areas in Malaysia.

Not only is it a concern on the national scale, but the Nipah virus has also spread to other countries in Asia. Singapore and India are countries that must also face this virus attack.