Foodborne transmission of Nipah virus, Bangladesh.
We investigated an outbreak of encephalitis in Tangail District, Bangladesh. We defined case-patients as persons from the outbreak area in whom fever developed with new onset of seizures or altered mental status from December 15, 2004, through January 31, 2005. Twelve persons met the definition; 11 (92%) died. Serum specimens were available from 3; 2 had immunoglobulin M antibodies against Nipah virus by capture enzyme immunoassay. We enrolled 11 case-patients and 33 neighborhood controls in a case-control study. The only exposure significantly associated with illness was drinking raw date palm sap (64% among case-patients vs. 18% among controls, odds ratio [OR] 7.9, p = 0.01). Fruit bats (Pteropus giganteus) are a nuisance to date palm sap collectors because the bats drink from the clay pots used to collect the sap at night. This investigation suggests that Nipah virus was transmitted from P. giganteus to persons through drinking fresh date palm sap.
Luby
Stephen P
SP
International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh. sluby@icddrb.org
Rahman
Mahmudur
M
Hossain
M Jahangir
MJ
Blum
Lauren S
LS
Husain
M Mushtaq
MM
Gurley
Emily
E
Khan
Rasheda
R
Ahmed
Be-Nazir
BN
Rahman
Shafiqur
S
Nahar
Nazmun
N
Kenah
Eben
E
Comer
James A
JA
Ksiazek
Thomas G
TG
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005516:Food Microbiology; D045464:Henipavirus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D045405:Nipah Virus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M