What Is Nipah Virus?
6. Can It Be Prevented?
Because of the lack of a vaccine or effective medication to prevent or cure NiV, public health officials focus on prevention strategies. Controlling the spread of this disease can dramatically reduce the number of cases and fatalities. Most community-wide prevention strategies include reducing bat-to-human, pig-to-human and human-to-human transmission.
Bat-to-human transmission is primarily caused by date palm sap and other food products being contaminated by bats. Pigs spread the disease during slaughtering and from daily handling, so care should be taken if a pig farm is in close proximity to a fruit bat habitat.
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