3 min readJan 13, 2026 09:44 AM IST
First published on: Jan 12, 2026 at 09:00 PM IST
At least two cases of Nipah virus have been detected in West Bengal, with a National Joint Outbreak Response team being brought in to support the state in preventing the spread of the infection. Union Health Minister JP Nadda wrote to and called Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, assuring full support.
The Union Health Secretary also reached out to Bengal’s chief secretary and principal secretary (health) on the issue.
Nipah is a viral infection that mainly affects animals such as bats, pigs, dogs, and horses, but can jump to humans who come in contact with infected animals and cause serious illness. It can be transmitted through food items such as fruit or date palm sap that has been contaminated with bodily fluids of an infected animal, usually bats.
Nipah usually presents as fever and swelling of the brain and can be highly fatal.
Outbreaks of Nipah are not very common in India, with the latest cases being reported from Kerala. West Bengal had seen a Nipah outbreak in 2001. India has in store an experimental monoclonal antibody developed by Australia, which given early on in the disease progression, can prevent severe disease.
It is essential to detect the cases early and prevent further spread. This is because the Case Fatality Ratio — proportion of deaths among those who test positive for the infection — has been very high for Nipah. The CFR in the 2001 and 2007 outbreak in West Bengal were 68% and 100% respectively. In the case of the 2018 outbreak in Kerala, the CFR stood at 91% with two of the infected persons surviving.
However, the disease is not as transmissible as Covid-19 or influenza and is unlikely to cause a huge number of infections in a short time.
The national response team comprises experts from the All India Institute of Health and Public Hygiene, Kolkata; National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune; National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai; AIIMS Kalyani; and the Department of Wildlife, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. For all outbreaks, the Centre now constitutes a multi-disciplinary team with plant and animal experts following a ‘one-health’ approach.
In addition to this national response team, the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) at the National Centre for Disease Control-Delhi has been activated to coordinate the national response.
According to sources, blood samples from those who came into contact with two infected nurses have been sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kalyani for Nipah virus testing (File Photo) 
Share
