Nipah virus outbreak: Health screenings rolled out at some airports after India cases: Here’s the latest

An outbreak of Nipah virus outbreak in India is currently causing alarm for health officials and travelers across a number of countries in Asia.

On January 26, health officials from India notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of two laboratory-confirmed cases of Nipah virus (NiV) infection in West Bengal State. No additional NiV cases have been detected. 

Following news of the outbreak, authorities in some Asian countries, including Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, have ramped up airport health screening efforts.

However, according to Reuters, the screenings are more for “reassurance” than a tactic to stop the spread. The WHO says risk of spread at the national, regional, and global levels is low.

The latest developments 

Both recent West Bengal cases involved healthcare workers who began showing typical NiV symptoms in late December 2025. 

The cases were confirmed by “Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) testing,” according to the WHO. Local health officials identified 196 contacts, all of whom tested negative for NiV and showed no symptoms.

NiV is serious, but rare. It is a zoonotic virus, meaning it usually spreads from animals to humans. Fruit bats or flying foxes are natural hosts for the virus. 

However, the virus can also be transmitted through contaminated food and from person to person through close contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids, such as saliva or urine.

Person-to-person contact is less common, according to the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training & Education Center (NETEC). Person-to-person transmission is most commonly reported in hospital or healthcare settings. 

​According to the WHO, the case fatality rate is estimated to be 40% to 75%. There are no licensed medications or vaccines for NiV infection, but early supportive care can improve survival.

Additional details can be found in the WHO’s January 30 disease outbreak news report.

A brief history of the virus 

NiV was first identified in 1998 in Malaysia during an outbreak among pig farmers.

Since then, cases have been reported in less than a handful of countries—Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, and Singapore. The most recent outbreak marks the third NiV infection outbreak reported in West Bengal.

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