Nipah virus: a potential pandemic agent in the context of the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic

P Devnath; H M A A Masud

doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2021.100873

Nipah virus: a potential pandemic agent in the context of the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic

New Microbes New Infect. 2021 May:41:100873. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2021.100873. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Authors

P Devnath¹, H M A A Masud²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali, Bangladesh.
² Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chattogram, Bangladesh.

Abstract

For centuries, zoonotic diseases have been responsible for various outbreaks resulting in the deaths of millions of people. The best example of this is the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus is another deadly virus which has caused several outbreaks in the last few years. Though it causes a low number of infections, disease severity results in a higher death rate. In the context of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we speculate that many countries will be unable to deal with the sudden onset of such a viral outbreak. Thus, further research and attention to the virus are needed to address future outbreaks.

Keywords: Mutations; Nipah virus; One Health; pandemic; spillover; zoonotic diseases.

Publication types

Review