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  1. Nipah virus: impact, origins, and causes of emergence
    Epstein JH, Field HE, Luby S, Pulliam JR, Daszak P
    Curr Infect Dis Rep, 2006 Jan;8(1):59-65.
    PMID: 16448602
    Nipah virus is an emerging zoonotic pathogen that causes severe febrile encephalitis resulting in death in 40% to 75% of human cases. Nipah virus is considered a biosafety level-4 pathogen and is listed as a select agent with high risk for public health and security due to its high mortality rate in people and the lack of effective vaccines or therapies. The natural reservoir for Nipah virus and related members of the genus Henipavirus are fruit bats of the genus Pteropus. Nipah virus emerged in Malaysia in 1998 as a porcine neurologic and respiratory disease that spread to humans who had contact with live, infected pigs. Research reviewed in this paper suggests that anthropogenic factors, including agricultural expansion and intensification, were the underlying causes of its emergence. Nipah virus has caused five subsequent outbreaks between 2001 and 2005 in Bangladesh. Here, it appears to have spilled over directly from bats to humans, and person-to-person transmission is evident suggesting a heightened public health risk.
  2. Fulltext Genetic diversity of Nipah virus in Bangladesh
    Rahman MZ, Islam MM, Hossain ME, Rahman MM, Islam A, Siddika A, et al.
    Int J Infect Dis, 2021 Jan;102:144-151.
    PMID: 33129964 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.10.041
    BACKGROUND: Nipah virus (NiV) infection, often fatal in humans, is primarily transmitted in Bangladesh through the consumption of date palm sap contaminated by Pteropus bats. Person-to-person transmission is also common and increases the concern of large outbreaks. This study aimed to characterize the molecular epidemiology, phylogenetic relationship, and the evolution of the nucleocapsid gene (N gene) of NiV.

    METHODS: We conducted molecular detection, genetic characterization, and Bayesian time-scale evolution analyses of NiV using pooled Pteropid bat roost urine samples from an outbreak area in 2012 and archived RNA samples from NiV case patients identified during 2012-2018 in Bangladesh.

    RESULTS: NiV-RNA was detected in 19% (38/456) of bat roost urine samples and among them; nine N gene sequences were recovered. We also retrieved sequences from 53% (21 out of 39) of archived RNA samples from patients. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all Bangladeshi strains belonged to NiV-BD genotype and had an evolutionary rate of 4.64 × 10-4 substitutions/site/year. The analyses suggested that the strains of NiV-BD genotype diverged during 1995 and formed two sublineages.

    CONCLUSION: This analysis provides further evidence that the NiV strains of the Malaysian and Bangladesh genotypes diverged recently and continue to evolve. More extensive surveillance of NiV in bats and human will be helpful to explore strain diversity and virulence potential to infect humans through direct or person-to-person virus transmission.

  3. Fulltext A planetary health model for reducing exposure to faecal contamination in urban informal settlements: Baseline findings from Makassar, Indonesia
    French MA, Fiona Barker S, Taruc RR, Ansariadi A, Duffy GA, Saifuddaolah M, et al.
    Environ Int, 2021 10;155:106679.
    PMID: 34126296 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106679
    BACKGROUND: The intense interactions between people, animals and environmental systems in urban informal settlements compromise human and environmental health. Inadequate water and sanitation services, compounded by exposure to flooding and climate change risks, expose inhabitants to environmental contamination causing poor health and wellbeing and degrading ecosystems. However, the exact nature and full scope of risks and exposure pathways between human health and the environment in informal settlements are uncertain. Existing models are limited to microbiological linkages related to faecal-oral exposures at the individual level, and do not account for a broader range of human-environmental variables and interactions that affect population health and wellbeing.

    METHODS: We undertook a 12-month health and environmental assessment in 12 flood-prone informal settlements in Makassar, Indonesia. We obtained caregiver-reported health data, anthropometric measurements, stool and blood samples from children 

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