While the province continues to grapple with a conjunctivitis outbreak, health authorities in Punjab have issued a ‘high alert’ for Nipah virus.
The virus is transmitted from animals to humans and is normally known to spread through bats or pigs. However, the virus can also be spread from people to people. The health department issued the alert after an outbreak in India.
Symptoms of the virus include coughing, difficulty in breathing and high fever including fits. The virus can also have neurological effects.
The alert issued by the health department said that one way the virus can spread is through fruits that were infected by bats. The department has advised citizens to carefully wash fruits before eating them.
The virus has no vaccine and quick diagnosis or prevention are the only cures. The health department said that patients can slip into a coma with 3-4 days. The virus can also kill upto 74% of the people it infects.
The health department’s guidelines also include instructions to upload data to dashboards, keeping patients isolated and getting samples to laborattories for analysis on time
