West Bengal on high alert: State rolls out measures to contain Nipah virus spread

The West Bengal health department is issuing advisories to government and private hospitals after two nurses of a hospital in Barasat in North 24 Parganas district were detected with Nipah virus on Sunday. One female and male nurse, have been hospitalised in the same hospital and kept in isolation.

“There is no need to panic, but to be on alert. The chief minister herself is closely monitoring the development," said West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty. CM Mamata Banerjee is also the state's health Minister.

Nipah cases are not new to West Bengal. “The Nipah virus was first diagnosed in Malaysia in 1998, and in 2001, we had the first outbreak in Siliguri in West Bengal; and we had another outbreak in 2007 in Nadia district in West Bengal. Kerala has been reporting cases intermittently for the past three-four years. The last outbreak was in 2025; I think Wayanad district," said Dr Sayan Chakraborty, consultant infectious disease, Manipal Hospitals.

It is a non-specific disease which starts with symptoms like viral fever, running nose, cough, fever and headaches. While these symptoms may be ignored, the virus then goes to the brain and causes convulsions, drowsiness, loss of orientation and many patients go into comma or death, as it causes encephalitis and involves brain cells. It starts with the respiratory system and goes to the brain.

“The problem here is there is no defined treatment protocol for this disease. Neither is there a preventive vaccine nor a treatment for the disease. You have to just give supportive care for the patient," said Dr Dip Narayan Mukherjee, consultant, microbiology and head of infection control, Woodlands Hospital.

“ If a patient has respiratory failure, we put the patient on a ventilator; if the patient is having convulsions, we give anti-convulsion drugs. That is the reason why it is a bad disease, and also the mortality rate is around 50 to 75 per cent," added Dr Mukherjee.

Nipah does not have pandemic potential

Steps to prevent contracting Nipah include washing fruits well with water, not having raw date sap without boiling or going through a proper filtration process. “There is nothing to worry about. We all are taking care of that. Not only this hospital, all other hospitals are also making their process and planning accordingly. So, no fear, no panic. Just continue normal activities. If you are visiting some place where there is a chance of mixing with more bats or pigs, avoid that part. Hand hygiene, like very meticulous washing, and if you are exposed to a crowd, it's better to wear masks like in a zoo where there are many bats," explained Dr Mukherjee.

Nipah virus is a zoonotic disease transmitted through bats eating fruits like raw date sap and human-to-human transmission takes place through saliva, urine, blood and respiratory droplets. However, unlike the Covid-19 virus, the Nipah virus does not have a pandemic potential. “Pandemic potential is not there, but there's definitely an outbreak; two cases are there. The government is doing a contact tracing, trying to find out people who have been exposed by these two people, and they have to be quarantined so that if they develop symptoms, they can definitely seek treatment.” Said Dr Chakraborty.

“We have taken the basic information, basic protocol and infrastructural support for early isolation of this group of patients, and our team will closely monitor the progress of the disease. We are very much in touch with our medical team of Sasthya Bhavan, who are providing timely instructions on treatment," said Dr Mukherjee.

“Being a NABH-accredited multi-disciplinary hospital, our team has conducted recent mock drills following ICMR and West Bengal Health Department guidelines, ensuring rapid containment and the highest standards of patient safety. We remain in constant coordination with state health authorities and are ready to support the National Joint Outbreak Response Team during this Nipah alert," said Sombrata Ray, Unit Head, CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI, which has isolation facilities in place to handle such cases.

ICU beds and rooms have been kept ready for Nipah patients. Stocks of PPEs, N95 masks and gloves are ready in hospitals so that treatment could be started according to protocol straight away. Hospitals are following protocols proposed by the Kerala government, which has dealt with Nipah cases in recent times.