What Is Nipah Virus?
3. How Is Nipah Virus Diagnosed?
Individuals believed to be infected should take a combination of laboratory tests to diagnose Nipah virus. Nasal and throat swabs, urine, blood and cerebrospinal fluid tests can all be performed early on in the spread of the virus to determine a positive case. These tests are virus isolation attempts and real-time polymerase chain reaction testing techniques, although antibody detection can also be used as cases progress.
Accurately diagnosing a fatal case of the virus is much more difficult. The only accurate diagnostic test is performed on tissue samples collected from an autopsy. This can help better understand the cause of death and the number of cases in a particular region.
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