In bats in Mahabaleshwar cave, antibodies against Nipah virus

It is a viral infection caused by the Nipah virus (NiV).
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the natural host of Nipah virus.
The disease was first identified in 1998 during an outbreak in Malaysia and it was named after a village in Malaysia, Sungai Nipah. Later, Nipah outbreaks have been reported in Singapore, Bangladesh and India.
Till date, India has experienced four episodes of NiV outbreaks with Case Fatality Rate (CFR) ranging from 65% to 100%. The first evidence of NiV infection was reported in Siliguri district, West Bengal in 2001. The last outbreak was reported in Kerala state in 2019.
A study in 2018 has identified many South East Asian countries including Indian states as potential hotspots for the NiV disease.
NiV is on the top-10 priority list pathogens identified by the World Health Organization.

It is a zoonotic virus (transmitted from animals to humans) which can also be transmitted through contaminated food or directly between people.
Consumption of fruits or fruit products (such as raw date palm juice) contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats is the most likely source of infection.
In infected people, it causes a range of illnesses from asymptomatic (subclinical) infection to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis.
The virus can also cause severe disease in animals such as pigs, resulting in significant economic losses for farmers.

There are currently no drugs or vaccines specific for Nipah virus infection.
The primary treatment for humans is supportive care.

A cross-sectional survey by Indian Council of Medical Research- National Institute of Virology to study the prevalence of Nipah virus in bats of India has picked up samples with the presence of antibodies against the Nipah virus in some bat species from a cave in Mahabaleshwar.
Mahabaleshwar is a popular hill station in Satara district, Maharashtra.

Pteropus medius bats, which are large fruit-eating bats, are the incriminated reservoir for NiV in India as both NiV RNA and antibodies were detected in the samples of these bats collected during previous NiV outbreaks. Studies on other species of bats as potential NiV reservoirs in India are very limited.
The new study has found the virus and antibodies in different species. During March 2020, from a cave in Mahabaleshwar, two species of bats, Rousettus leschenaultii (medium-sized fruit eating bats) and Pipistrellus pipistrellus (tiny insectivorous bats), were trapped by researchers using mist nets.
RNA was extracted from samples and Anti-NiV IgG antibodies were detected in a number of the samples. One bat each from R leschenaultii and P pipistrellus species tested positive for both NiV RNA and anti NiV IgG antibodies.
This is the first report of possible NiV infection in R leschenaultii bats in India, which was demonstrated by the presence of both NiV RNA and anti-NiV IgG antibodies in bats.

In earlier investigations during the last decade, NiV activity could not be detected in R leschenaultii, despite processing several hundred bats including bats from the same location.
More studies in bats and humans are therefore needed to understand the prevalence of the virus in the state.

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