{"id":394965,"date":"2026-01-28T12:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/394965\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T12:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:29:08","slug":"nipah-virus-warning-issued-by-uk-health-chiefs-up-to-75-will-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/394965\/","title":{"rendered":"Nipah virus warning issued by UK health chiefs – ‘up to 75% will die’"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK health chiefs have issued an urgent warning over the Nipah virus<\/a> as it spreads in India, sparking pandemic fears.<\/a> They warn that up to 75% of people infected with the virus could die.<\/p>\n

In the eastern state of West Bengal, two cases have been confirmed by the federal health ministry. In a bid to curb the outbreak<\/a> nearly 200 people have been quarantined after they were identified as contacts of the infected patients, according to officials. All were found to be asymptomatic and tested negative for the virus, the ministry said. Carried by bats, the rare infectious virus can infect both humans and pigs and can even cause irreversible brain damage.<\/p>\n

As pandemic fears soar The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued new guidance that it is important to understand the virus.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said: “While the risk to most people remains very low, understanding the virus is important if you are planning to travel to areas where it circulate.”<\/p>\n

Between 40% to 75% of people infected with the deady virus will die with others being left with lasting neurological difficulties including persistent seizures and personality changes. It was first identified in 1999 during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore.<\/p>\n

Health authorities also warn that, in rare cases, the virus can remain dormant and reactivate months or even years after the initial infection.<\/p>\n

Most infections are linked to the consumption of fruit or fruit juices\u2014particularly fermented date palm juice\u2014contaminated with the saliva, urine or feces of infected fruit bats.<\/p>\n

Although no cases have been identified in the UK so far, there is currently no vaccine or effective treatment available. Nipah virus was labelled a “high priority pathogen” in March last year “that urgently needs investment in developing tests, treatments and vaccines”.<\/p>\n

Symptoms usually begin with the sudden \u2013 onset of non-specific flu-like illness or fever. Pneumonia and other respiratory problems may also develop.<\/p>\n

The most severe and characteristic complication of Nipah virus infection is encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.<\/p>\n

Neurological symptoms\u2014such as confusion, altered levels of consciousness, seizures, or coma\u2014typically develop several days to weeks after the initial onset of illness.<\/p>\n

The time between becoming infected and symptoms appearing is typically 4 to 21 days, though longer periods have been observed previously.<\/p>\n

The Government website has issued the following advice to prevent Nipah virus from spreading:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK health chiefs have issued an urgent warning over the Nipah virus as it spreads in India, sparking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,1554,148370,148367,148369,148368,11344,88031,56,1558,54,55],"class_list":["post-394965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-health-section","tag-india-outbreak","tag-nipah-virus","tag-nipah-virus-india","tag-nipah-virus-uk","tag-pandemic","tag-pandemic-fears","tag-uk","tag-uk-health-security-agency","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}