Alarm over Nipah Virus outbreak in India: Kerala reports five cases and two deaths

Alarms are ringing in India over yet another deadly virus. The southern state of Kerala has reported four cases of the Nipah virus out of which two succumb to the infection. Now Nipah is a zoonotic virus which means it is transmitted to people from animals. It mainly affects animals such as bats, pigs, dogs and horses. Though the infection does not spread as quickly as COVID-19 the case fatality rate or the proportion of deaths among those who test positive is very high as per the World Health Organization.