Nipah Virus Infection : A Newly Emerging Disease

The Nipah infection is just one of over 40 new diseases that have emerged since the 1970s. Nipah virus (NiV) disease is a newly discovered infection of swine and humans that emerged in Malaysia in September 1998. The epidemic started in the northern Malaysian state of Perak and the disease was named after Kampung Sungai Nipah (Nipah River Village) where the first viral isolate was obtained (Chua et al., 1999). NiV causes severe illness, characterized by inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) ...