The infectious disease specialist called the import of the Nipah virus from India to Russia unlikely.

Another outbreak of the Nipah virus, recorded near the Indian city of Calcutta, is local in nature, and its import to Russia is unlikely. Andrey Pozdnyakov, an infectious disease specialist at INVITRO, Candidate of Medical Sciences, told Izvestia on January 26.

According to the expert, despite the high mortality rate among the identified severe cases — from 40 to 75% according to WHO, the real figure may be significantly lower. This is due to the fact that dozens of asymptomatic carriers can occur per severe case, and adequate medical care can reduce mortality, since the main focus is on symptomatic therapy. Currently, there is no etiotropic treatment aimed directly at destroying the virus.

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"The Nipah virus, which belongs to the paramyxovirus family, is relatively new to the human population, so the immune system does not have phylogenetic protection against it and fights it as a new threat, which explains the severity of the clinical manifestations. Human—to-human transmission is possible, but requires close contact, most often during patient care, especially in the absence of biosafety measures," Pozdnyakov explained.

Certain types of bats are a natural reservoir of infection. Human infection occurs through direct contact with them, as well as through the consumption of date palm juice or fruits contaminated with secretions from infected animals.

For the prevention of Late Blight, it is recommended to avoid contact with bats and consume tropical fruits and juices only after heat treatment, as the virus is effectively destroyed by boiling. He also warned about the risk of infection of domestic animals, in particular pigs, through contaminated products.

As for diagnostics, Russia, according to Rospotrebnadzor, has the necessary test systems, mainly based on PCR methods. Their presence, according to the infectious disease specialist, is an extremely positive factor for the timely detection and isolation of possible isolated cases, which minimizes the risks of spreading infection in the country.

As Alexey Agranovsky, professor of the Department of Virology at the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, said on January 25, there are no reservoirs for the accumulation of the Nipah virus in Russia, and the conditions for its spread in the country have not been formed.

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