Nipah virus: Singapore airports to screen visitors from affected places; no cases detected here
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The Communicable Diseases Agency said in a statement on Jan 28 that no cases of Nipah virus have been detected in Singapore and that it is monitoring the situation closely.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
SINGAPORE – Temperature screening will be set up at airports in Singapore for flights arriving from areas affected by the Nipah virus.
Surveillance of migrant workers arriving from South Asia will also be enhanced, said the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) on Jan 28, as it announced stepped-up measures to monitor the spread of the virus.
The agency added that no cases of the virus have been detected here.
The virus, which has no approved vaccine or known cure, was detected in two people in West Bengal, India, earlier in January, with one of them reported to be in critical condition.
This is the seventh Nipah virus outbreak in India since 2001, said CDA.
Other measures to be implemented in Singapore include health advisories for travellers at points of entry here. These advisories will come with instructions to seek medical attention if travellers are unwell, as well as health precautions.
CDA also said it is in contact with its counterparts in South Asia to better understand the situation. The agency added that work is ongoing to establish a global platform for countries to report genome sequences of detected cases.
Genome sequencing is a laboratory method used to determine the entire genetic make-up of a specific organism or cell type.
Hospitals have also been alerted to be on the lookout for patients with Nipah virus symptoms and recent travel history to affected areas, CDA said.
The agency added that additional public health measures may be introduced if there is an increased risk to Singapore.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, in a Facebook post on Jan 28, expressed the need for vigilance.
“We need to be on alert all the time as deadly outbreaks will happen from time to time in different parts of the world. The key thing we need to watch out for in such outbreaks is sustained human-to-human transmission,” he said.
If transmission is only between animals and humans, or human-to-human in a very close setting after contact with human fluids, there is much less worry because the virus will not spread far and wide, like SARS or Covid-19, Mr Ong said.
“Singaporeans can rest assured that we are always on alert and will act quickly to protect our population,” he added.
Other places in the region are also stepping up precautions.
Thailand has begun screening passengers arriving from affected or high-risk areas
Malaysia said it is maintaining border health controls
Transmission of the Nipah virus occurs mainly through exposure to bats and other infected animals such as pigs and dogs.
Experts say the virus is not very contagious but can spread from animals to humans, through close human contact and via contaminated food. It has an estimated fatality rate of between 40 per cent and 75 per cent, based on past outbreaks, according to the WHO.
Symptoms of the virus range from asymptomatic or mild infections to acute respiratory illness and fatal brain inflammation.
Infectious diseases expert Leong Hoe Nam said the disease can spread through direct contact with an infected host animal and its fluids.
It can also be transmitted through close contact with an infected person or the person’s body fluids, he added.
“Human-to-human transmission is rare,” said Professor Paul Tambyah, former president of the Asia-Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection.
“The official Indian Health Ministry statement about this current outbreak states that there are only two confirmed cases, despite their screening more than a hundred contacts of the index case.”
Dr Leong said the average number of infections caused by a person is fewer than one, a rate much lower than that at which influenza, Covid-19 or measles spreads.
“The challenge is that there is no treatment for the Nipah virus,” he added.
Treatment for the virus is mainly limited to supportive care.
This includes careful neurological observation so that complications, such as seizures or coma, can be monitored and treated to prevent premature death, said Prof Tambyah.
Nipah was first identified between 1998 and 1999 during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore, which resulted in nearly 300 cases and more than 100 deaths, according to archival reports.
Close to a million pigs were culled to contain the outbreak, and other measures were rolled out, such as restrictions on livestock movement and widespread use of personal protective gear for workers.
