By Jatindra Dash
BHUBANESWAR, India, Feb 12 (Reuters) – An Indian health worker who contracted the deadly Nipah virus in December has died, a senior health official from the eastern state of West Bengal said on Thursday.
The woman – a nurse – was one of two people in the state who were infected and was being treated at a local hospital, Reuters reported last month.
“The woman … who was critical, died due to cardiac arrest,” Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam told Reuters.
Commonly spread to humans from infected bats or fruit contaminated by them, the Nipah virus can cause fever and brain inflammation and has a fatality rate of between 40% and 75%.
India regularly reports sporadic infections, with its southern state of Kerala also regarded as one of the world’s highest-risk regions for the virus.
Asian countries including Thailand, Singapore, and Pakistan stepped up airport screening after India confirmed the infections last month, but the World Health Organisation had said risk of the virus’ spread was low.
A woman also died in Bangladesh in January after contracting the virus, WHO had said.
(Reporting by Jatindra Dash, writing by Sakshi Dayal, Editing by Alex Richardson)
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