AUTHOR=Balasubramanian R. , Mohandas Sreelekshmy , Thankappan Ullas P. , Shete Anita , Patil Dilip , Sabarinath Kannan , Mathapati Basavaraj , Sahay Rima , Patil Deepak , Yadav Pragya D. 

TITLE=Surveillance of Nipah virus in Pteropus medius of Kerala state, India, 2023

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1342170

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1342170

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Since 2018, the Indian state of Kerala has reported four Nipah virus (NiV) disease outbreaks, raising concerns about NiV spillover from bats to the human population. Considering this, a cross-sectional study was undertaken in the <italic>Pteropus medius</italic> bat population around the Nipah virus-affected regions of Kozhikode, Kerala, India, during February, July, and September 2023.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Throat swabs, rectal swabs, and organ samples were collected from bats to test for NiV using the real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), while serum samples were screened for anti-Nipah IgG antibodies through ELISA.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>An overall seroprevalence of 20.9% was observed in 272 <italic>P. medius</italic> bats tested. The throat and rectal swab samples of 321 bats were negative for NiV RNA. However, 4 of 44 <italic>P. medius</italic> bats tested positive for NiV in their liver/spleen samples. The partial N gene retrieved showed more than 99% similarity with the earlier reported NiV genome from Kerala state, India.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>The findings of the study caution that there is a spillover risk in the region and necessary precautions should be taken.</p></sec>