Researchers discover deadly virus in bat

Researchers discover deadly virus in bat

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): A deadly virus that killed about 100 people
and ruined pig farms across Malaysia last year has been
discovered in a fruit bat found in most parts of Southeast Asia,
news reports said Saturday.

A team of scientists from Malaysia's top research institution,
the University of Malaya, have isolated a strain of the Nipah
virus from the Island Flying Fox, a fruit bat that roosts in palm
trees in Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and
Indonesia, said The Sun newspaper.

Lam Sai Kit, a microbiology professor, said his research team
have so far discovered the virus in two of 1,000 urine specimens
collected from the flying foxes.

Lam could not be reached for comment.

The virus, which swept through a large part of Malaysia early
last year, first surfaced in a pig-farming district in Negri
Sembilan state, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kuala
Lumpur.

It killed 84 people in that area alone and infected hundreds.
The virus also sickened and killed thousands of hogs.

Lam warned that since the flying foxes are migratory
creatures, it is likely that the virus will spread to other
nearby countries. It is also possible that other species of bats
or wildlife harbor the virus, he said.

Nevertheless, Lam added that his team had not found any cases
of the virus being transmitted directly from fruit bats to human
beings.

"There seems to be an inadequate amount and strength of the
virus present in the flying foxes to enable them to infect humans
directly," he was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times
daily.

"Perhaps the virus needs to multiply in the pig before it
becomes infectious to humans," he said, noting that the virus
died quickly without a host.

In cases where transmission to humans does occur, however, the
damage is severe. The Nipah virus is lethal to about 40 percent
of human patients, causing severe encephalitis.

The virus is transmitted from fruit bats to pigs, horses and
goats when such livestock come into contact with urine from the
flying foxes, or consume fruits from which the bats recently ate,
Lam said.

Humans, in turn, are infected through direct physical contact
with semen and urine from the infected animals.

To prevent its spread last year, the government ordered the
destruction of about 1 million pigs in Malaysia, the region's
biggest pork producer.

The viral epidemic was declared over in October but in recent
weeks, health authorities have once again begun culling more than
1,700 pigs in the central Perak state to prevent a recurrence.

Any hog farm found with even one infected pig must destroy its
entire stock.

Because the virus was now found in fruit bats, Lam said it was
important not to grow fruit trees near farms that kept pigs,
horses and goats.