India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
New Delhi, June 23: A recent survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)- National Institute of Virology found that the presence of antibodies against Nipah Virus (NiV) in some bat species from a cave in Mahabaleshwar, a popular hill station in Maharashtra.
The survey was aimed at studying the prevalence of the Nipah virus (NiV) – one of the top-10 global priority list pathogens identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) – in bats of India.
In March 2020, two species of bats, Rousettus leschenaultii and Pipistrellus pipistrellus were trapped by researchers using mist nets in a cave in Mahabaleshwar.
The new study titled ‘Detection of possible Nipah virus infection in Rousettus leschenaultii and Pipistrellus Pipistrellus bats in Maharashtra, India’ and published in the Journal of Infection and Public Health has found NiV and its antibodies in different…