THE son of a man who died from a brain-swelling Nipah virus that inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Contagion has allegedly tested positive.
The 32-year-old, who had taken his dad to hospital before he passed away, was already under close watch when he began showing symptoms, according to Onmanorama News.
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The virus belongs to the same family as measles and, like measles, spreads easily between people, making it highly contagious.
It is also extremely lethal, killing more than two-thirds of those infected.
This suggests that at least five people are believed to have tested positive in South India this July, mainly in Kerala’s Malappuram and Palakkad districts, following the death of an 18-year-old girl in Kerala.
Since then, two more women aged 38 and 42, from Malappuram district, have tested positive.
The 58-year-old father from Palakkad district has died, Kerala’s health minister, Veena George, confirmed on Facebook earlier this week. This raises the death toll to two.
Local health authorities have now enforced a 3km lockdown around the young man’s home, with all identified contacts asked to stay indoors.
A total of 723 people across several districts have been identified as contacts of the five cases.
Among them, 17 are undergoing treatment, while results for many are still awaited.
The Sun has approached Ms George for confirmation and further details about the most recent case.
The infections have raised alarm bells as the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers the virus a priority pathogen with “serious potential” to drive mass outbreaks.
Earlier this year, the UK Health Security Agency also included Nipah in its list of 24 diseases considered a major threat to public health.
Last week, Veena George said there is not yet evidence of human-to-human transmission in the current outbreak.
“No human-to-human transmission has been confirmed,” Ms George said Wednesday. “It could definitely be two separate spillover events.”
Nipah is carried by bats, and Kerala is home to more than 40 species.
As rapid development and urban sprawl eat into their natural habitats, the animals are coming into closer contact with people, increasing the risk of the virus spilling over.
The state first saw an outbreak in 2018, when 21 of the 23 people infected died. Since then, smaller clusters of cases have been reported, most recently in 2024.
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“There could be multiple reasons for regular spillover reports from Kerala. But first and foremost, I think, is the strength of our surveillance system,” Ms George told The Telegraph.
“It should be noted that the presence of the virus has been demonstrated in many parts of the country, but Kerala can identify the human cases.”
The 18-year-old victim lived in a house “near to a very big bat colony”, which may explain how she contracted the disease, said Ms George.
“We interviewed the family members extensively, and we are conducting studies to identify the presence of viral RNA and antibodies in bats from the roost,” she added
Personality changes and seizures
Niaph, which inspired the film Contagion starring Gwyneth Paltrow, is a zoonotic virus.
Much like the virus in the film, which centered around a global pandemic, it attacks the brain, and has a fatality rate as high as 75 per cent.
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Of those who survive it, around 20 per cent are left with long-term neurological conditions, including personality changes or seizure disorders.
For comparison, estimates from John Hopkins University dashboard suggest the fatality rate of Covid is just over one per cent.
Scientists previously told The Sun that Nipah could “absolutely be the cause of a new pandemic”.
Dr Rebecca Dutch, chair of the University of Kentucky, and a world a leader in the study of viruses, said Nipah virus outbreaks occur periodically and it is “extremely likely” we will see more.
She told us: “Nipah is one of the viruses that could absolutely be the cause of a new pandemic. Several things about Nipah are very concerning.”
Outbreaks have previously been reported in Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.
An expert weighs in..
By Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert
Nipah virus is spread to humans usually from fruit bats or livestock that has been infected by fruit bats.
At present human to human transmission is very inefficient but can be spread by close contact.
So there would need to be a major change in the virus for it to become pandemic.
However, the thing that worries me is foodborne transmission. If infected carcasses are exported internationally that could cause a pandemic, though a short lived one.
Sometimes symptomless
Nipah is typically transmitted to humans from animals such as bats and pigs, through direct contact with bodily fluids like blood or saliva.
Humans can also pick up the disease up by eating foods contaminated with urine or saliva from infected animals.
They can also pick it up through close contact with people who already have it – but these forms of transmission are much rarer.
People infected with the Nipah virus may not display any symptoms at all.
But many go on to develop acute respiratory infections, seizures and fatal brain swelling, called encephalitis.
Encephalitis and seizures only occur in severe cases and can progress to coma within 24 to 48 hours.
It typically takes between four days and two weeks for people to develop symptoms after being infected.
However, in some cases it has taken up to 45, WHO noted.
Extremely likely to see outbreaks
There’s currently no approved vaccine to stop Nipah virus infections and no treatment to cure it.
However, Oxford scientists have developed the first Nipah vaccine to enter human trials, with early tests now underway.
Dr Dutch said: “Many other viruses in that family (like measles) transmit well between people, so there is concern that a Nipah variant with increased transmission could arise.
“The mortality rate for this virus is between 45 per cent and 75 per cent depending on the outbreak – so this is much higher than Covid-19.
“Nipah has been shown to be transmitted through food, as well as via contact with human or animal excretions.
“The incubation period for Nipah can be quite long, and it can be unclear if transmission can occur during this time.”
Dr Jonathan Epstein, vice president for science and outreach at the EcoHealth Alliance, explained how they are tracking the Nipah virus and are worried about its potential.
He told The Sun: “We know very little about the genetic variety of Nipah-related viruses in bats, and what we don’t want to happen is for a strain to emerge that is more transmissible among people.”
THE 24 ‘PRIORITY PATHOGENS’
THE UK Health Security Agency has issued a list of the 24 viruses and bacteria that its experts believe pose the biggest threat to people in the UK.
Each one is a scientific family, meaning it is an umbrella term that includes and number of more specific – and usually better known – infections.
VIRUSES
- Adenoviruses (mostly cause the common cold)
- Arenaviruses (e.g. Lassa fever)
- Calciviruses (e.g. norovirus)
- Coronaviruses (e.g. Covid-19)
- Filoviruses (e.g. Ebola, Marburg, Sudan virus)
- Flaviviruses (e.g. dengue, zika, hepatitis C)
- Hantaviruses (can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome)
- Nairoviruses (e.g. Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever)
- Orthomyxoviruses (e.g. flu)
- Paramyxoviruses (e.g. Nipah virus)
- Peribunyaviruses (e.g. oropouche fever)
- Phenuviruses (e.g. Rift Valley fever)
- Picornaviruses (e.g. polio)
- Pneumoviruses (e.g. human metapneumovirus/hMPV)
- Poxviruses (e.g. mpox)
- Togaviruses (e.g. Chikungunya)
BACTERIA
- Bacillaceae (e.g. anthrax)
- Coxiellaceae (e.g. Q fever)
- Enterobacteria (e.g. plague)
- Francisellacae (e.g. tularaemia)
- Moraxellaceae (can cause pneumonia and UTIs)
- Neisseriaceae (e.g. gonorrhoea)
- Staphylococcaceae (cause cellulitis, pneumonia)
- Streptococcaceae (cause meningitis, scarlet fever, septicaemia)
