A 12-year-old boy in India has died after contracting the Nipah virus (NiV), sparking concerns the pathogen could lead to another global pandemic.
New infections have been reported in India, and authorities are now attempting to control the outbreak.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Nipah virus is far deadlier than Covid - with a mortality rate between 40% and 75% compared with Covid's 1%.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said: “The virus has been shown to spread from person-to-person in these outbreaks, raising concerns about the potential for NiV to cause a global pandemic.”
The boy who died had been in two hospitals beforehand, meaning hundreds of people were potentially exposed to the deadly virus.
Early tests of those who came into close contact with him have thus far come back negative, as reported by the Mirror.
State health minister Veena George said: “That these eight immediate contacts tested negative is a great relief."
The fruit bat-borne virus has been the subject of concern due to its high rate of mutation and high mortality rate.
Vomiting, seizures and brain swelling are among the symptoms people experience after contracting the virus, which first jumped from pigs to farmers in Malaysia in 1999.
Nipah is particularly worrying as it has high rate of mutation and an incubation period of up to 45 days, meaning a person could spread it for more than a month before falling sick.
Scientists are worried that the next pandemic could be far worse than the coronavirus crisis.
There is no cure or vaccine for Nipah yet, and patients are only given supportive medical care.
Dr Melanie Saville, head of vaccine research and development at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, told The Sun earlier this year that the world needs to be ready for 'the big one'.
She said that although there are no current Nipah outbreaks in the world, it is 'extremely likely' another will happen in the future.
"Nipah is one of the viruses that could absolutely be the cause of a new pandemic. Several things about Nipah are very concerning," she said.
"Most crucially, we shouldn't just be looking at Nipah.
"We know that a future pandemic is inevitable, and there are many other emerging infectious diseases that are recognised as having pandemic potential."
She said known diseases, such as influenza, could turn into pandemics, as well as unidentified viruses, known as 'Disease X'.
The World Health Organisation has reportedly listed the Nipah virus as one of 16 priority pathogens that need to be researched due to their potential to spark an epidemic.
