The Ministry of Health explained this Friday (30) that the Nipah viruswhich had two confirmed cases in the Indian province of West Bengal, India, has a low potential to cause a new pandemic and does not represent a threat to Brazil.
The assessment is the same as that published by the World Health Organization in a press conference this Friday.
The Brazilian government’s health authority clarified that the last of the two confirmed cases in India was diagnosed on January 13, and that, since then, 198 contacts of the confirmed cases have been identified. All were monitored and tests returned negative results for the disease.
“Given the current scenario, there is no indication of risk for the Brazilian population. Health authorities continue to monitor continuously, in alignment with international organizations”, explained the Ministry of Health.
The ministry stated that it maintains permanent protocols for surveillance and response to highly pathogenic agents in Brazil, in conjunction with reference institutions such as the Evandro Chagas Institute and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in addition to the participation of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Nipah has been identified other times in Southeast Asia. According to the World Health Organization, it was discovered in 1999, in an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia, and is regularly detected in Bangladesh and India.
Consultant to the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases, professor of infectology at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto of the University of São Paulo (USP) Benedito Fonseca explained, in an interview with Brazil Agencythat the incidence in India it is linked to the presence of a species of bats that serves as a host for the virus, which is therefore classified as zoonotic.
These bats, which do not live on the American continent, feed on fruits and sweet sap that are also consumed by humans and domestic animals at this time of year, and this causes contamination. There are also reports that secretions from infected people can transmit it.
“Viruses [zoonóticos] they normally have a very intimate relationship with their reservoir. And this bat has a large distribution in Asia, but it has no distribution in Europe or the Americas. I believe that the pandemic potential, of distribution throughout the world, is small”, assessed Fonseca.
