West Bengal has managed to contain the deadly virus, Rajeev Jayadevan has told RT India
There is no need to panic over a reported Nipah virus outbreak in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, an eminent doctor has said. An outbreak of the deadly virus at a private hospital in the state has triggered a wave of media panic and precautionary screenings at several Asian airports.
Though the local health authorities stated that the situation poses minimal risk of widespread transmission, neighboring countries have started to implement precautionary measures. Media reports have escalated concerns over the virus, with numerous outlets framing the outbreak as a major threat.
“The situation in West Bengal has been contained,” Rajeev Jayadevan, a former aide of the Indian Medical Association, told RT India on Wednesday. “The R zero, or the reproductive number, for this disease is 0.4. This means these ten infected will spread it to four, who in turn will infect two, and then it dies down,” he said.
“So, there is no need for mass panic, in terms of say, like the new Covid… There is nothing like that,” Jayadevan added. He also warned about panic spread via social media where people with limited understanding often speak in alarmist terms.
International media also spread alarm over the outbreak, with the UK’s Independent describing India as “racing to contain deadly outbreak,” while The Telegraph claimed that experts are scrambling.
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has reported screening over 1,700 passengers arriving from Kolkata at three major airports, though no one screened was infected. The Nipah virus is a rare zoonotic disease originating from fruit bats which has a high fatality rate (40% to 75%), with no available vaccines or medicine to treat it.
The virus poses limited risk of transmission, as it requires direct contact with bodily fluids or contaminated food.
Past outbreaks of the virus have followed a similar pattern of successful local containment. The southern Indian state of Kerala has reported nine separate outbreaks since 2018, all of which were swiftly contained.
