Hunting the Nipah virus at the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia

As part of a vast program to combat infectious encephalitis in South-East Asia, scientists at the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia are focusing their research on the bats that carry the Nipah virus, an emerging infectious agent that causes the disease. Their aim is to prevent or limit a possible future epidemic in Cambodia.

The Nipah virus is one of the infectious agents that can cause encephalitis. This pathogen, carried by bats of the Pteropus genus, was first identified in Malaysia in 1998. It then spread to pigs, presumably after they ate fruit that had been bitten into by bats, and the pigs passed it on to humans.  In 2004, the virus gave rise to a second epidemic outbreak in Bangladesh, this time transmitted directly from bats to humans via contaminated palm sap. As yet, no human transmission of the Nipah virus has been detected in Cambodia, but the prevalence of host bats near human communities means that constant surveillance is vital.

Since 2013, the Institut Pasteur International Network has been involved in a vast international program to combat infectious encephalitis in South-East Asia. The aim of the SEAe (South-East Asia encephalitis) program is to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this severe neurological inflammation, which can lead to death, especially in children.

 

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