Nipah virus-associated encephalitis outbreak, Siliguri, India.
During January and February 2001, an outbreak of febrile illness associated with altered sensorium was observed in Siliguri, West Bengal, India. Laboratory investigations at the time of the outbreak did not identify an infectious agent. Because Siliguri is in close proximity to Bangladesh, where outbreaks of Nipah virus (NiV) infection were recently described, clinical material obtained during the Siliguri outbreak was retrospectively analyzed for evidence of NiV infection. NiV-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies were detected in 9 of 18 patients. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays detected RNA from NiV in urine samples from 5 patients. Sequence analysis confirmed that the PCR products were derived from NiV RNA and suggested that the NiV from Siliguri was more closely related to NiV isolates from Bangladesh than to NiV isolates from Malaysia. NiV infection has not been previously detected in India.
National Institute of Virology, Pune, India.
Mandeep S
MS
Chadha
James A
JA
Comer
Luis
L
Lowe
Paul A
PA
Rota
Pierre E
PE
Rollin
William J
WJ
Bellini
Thomas G
TG
Ksiazek
Akhilesh
A
Mishra
D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D045464:Henipavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D045405:Nipah Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014556:Urine / Q000821:virology; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins