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 consid.AdvertisementSearchSpringerLinkSearchNipahvirus:Impact,origins,andcausesofemergenceDownloadPDFDownloadPDFAbstractNipahvirusisanemergingzoonoticpathogenthatcausesseverefebrileencephalitisresultingindeathin40%to75%ofhumancases.Nipahvirusisconsideredabiosafetylevel-4pathogenandislistedasaselectagentwithhighriskforpublichealthandsecurityduetoitshighmortalityrateinpeopleandthelackofeffectivevaccinesortherapies.ThenaturalreservoirforNipahvirusandrelatedmembersofthegenusHenipavirusarefruitbatsofthegenusPteropus.NipahvirusemergedinMalaysiain1998asaporcineneurologicandrespiratorydiseasethatspreadtohumanswhohadcontactwithlive,infectedpigs.Researchreviewedinthispapersuggeststhatanthropogenicfactors,includingagriculturalexpansionandintensification,weretheunderlyingcausesofitsemergence.Nipahvirushascausedfivesubsequentoutbreaksbetween2001and2005inBangladesh.Here,itappearstohavespilledoverdirectlyfrombatstohumans,andperson-to-persontransmissionisevidentsuggestingaheightenedpublichealthrisk.DownloadtoreadthefullarticletextReferencesandRecommendedReading1.SmolinskiMS,HamburgMA,LederbergJ:MicrobialThreatstoHealth:Emergence,Detection,andResponse.WashingtonD.C.:TheNationalAcademiesPress;2003.GoogleScholar 2.TaylorLH,LathamSM,WoolhouseMEJ:Riskfactorsforhumandiseaseemergence.PhilosTransRSocLondBBiolSci2001,356:983–989.Thispaperprovidesoneofthefirstanalysesoftrendsinglobaldiseaseemergence.Itdemonstratesthataround75%ofemergingdiseasesarezoonoticandprovidesdatatosuggestthatcertainpathogensaremorelikelytoemergethanothers.PubMed Article CAS GoogleScholar 3.MorensDM,FolkersGK,FauciAS:Thechallengeofemergingandre-emerginginfectiousdiseases.Nature2004,430:242–249.PubMed Article CAS GoogleScholar 4.WeissRA,McMichaelAJ:Socialandenvironmentalriskfactorsintheemergenceofinfectiousdiseases.NatMed2004,10:S70-S76.PubMed Article CAS GoogleScholar 5.Mo