What to Know About Nipah Virus After New Cases in India

SUNDAY, Feb. 8, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Reports of new Nipah virus cases in India have raised worries about yet another deadly outbreak. Nipah is a rare virus that can cause severe brain swelling and breathing problems, and there are no approved vaccines or treatments.Health officials say the latest cases appear to be contained. Still, several Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, have enhanced airport screenings as a safety step. Hong Kong has done so, as well.The virus is carried by fruit bats, which don’t get sick but can spread Nipah through contaminated food or close contact. People can also pass the virus to each other, usually while caring for someone who is very sick.To better understand what’s happening, experts from Tufts University in Boston shared what they know so far.Nipah is considered a priority pathogen, because it is highly deadly and hard to control.Historically, the virus has been fatal to 70% of diagnosed patients. Some people may have mild symptoms or none at all, which makes tracking any type of spread harder.There are no approved vaccines or treatments, the researchers explained. That’s one reason health officials take even small clusters of Nipah seriously."The cause of the latest outbreak is not yet known," Jonathon Gass, an assistant professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts, said.Two cases have been confirmed in India’s West Bengal state this year, reportedly involving health care workers. Officials traced 196 contacts. None have developed symptoms or tested positive so far, Gass said.In many past outbreaks, Nipah spread through contaminated food, especially raw date-palm sap. Fruit bats are drawn to the sweet sap and can leave saliva or urine behind, which can infect anyone who ingests it."The World Health Organization announced that the risk of wider spread is low, with no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission and no sign that the virus has moved beyond the initial cluster in West Bengal," Gass said.Small, localized outbreaks usually don’t cross borders, he added, especially since these cases often happen in rural areas. But countries are still staying alert.Health teams in India moved quickly, researchers said. Doctors isolated patients, tested contacts and put safety measures in place. Nearby countries also stepped up screening and monitoring, a move experts say improves early detection and preparedness.Researchers know fruit bats carry Nipah, but they don’t fully understand why spillovers into humans and other animals happen some years and not others.Experts are studying whether things like weather, food shortages or habitat loss affect how much virus bats shed."Activities such as deforestation, expanding agriculture and keeping livestock near bat habitats can make it easier for the virus to spread from animals to people," Gass said. "Preventing future epidemics depends on changing how humans and animals share space, not eliminating wildlife, including fruit-eating bats," he added.Experts said prevention starts at the community level.This includes:Early monitoring in high-risk areasSafer farming practicesBetter access to rapid testingProtecting health care workersStrong coordination between countriesDr. Felicia Nutter, an associate professor of infectious disease and global health, cited several ways to reduce risky contact among bats, livestock and people. Among them: "protecting and restoring natural habitats — reducing forest fragmentation, maintaining buffer zones between wildlife and human activities (including livestock), and supporting land-use practices that limit wildlife displacement."But, she said, such solutions require time, sustained investment and coordination across communities and sectors, making large-scale implementation difficult. "It can be hard to show success in the short term, because effective prevention often looks like nothing happening — outbreaks that never occur," Nutter said.More informationThe World Health Organization has more on the Nipah virus.SOURCE: Tufts University, news release, Feb. 4, 2026.What This Means For YouNipah is rare and experts say your risk remains very low. But outbreaks like India's show why early detection matters and why officials act quickly, even when just a few cases appear..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter