Transmission of Nipah Virus - 14 Years of Investigations in Bangladesh.

N Engl J Med

From the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases Unit, Institut Pasteur, UMR2000, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris (B.N., H.S., S.C.); the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia (M.J.H.); the Infectious Diseases Division, icddr,b, (M.J.H., A.K.M.D.K., H.M.S.S., S.A., E.S.G.), and the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (M.R., S.S.) - both in Dhaka, Bangladesh; the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney (H.M.S.S.); the EcoHealth Alliance, New York (P.D.); the Viral Special Pathogens Branch, Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta (U.S., S.T.N., J.D.K.); the South African DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA), Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa (J.R.C.P.); the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz (A.M.K.), and the Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine Division, Stanford University, Stanford (S.P.L.) - both in California; Auburn University, Auburn, AL (S.A.); and the Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (E.S.G.).

Published: May 2019

Background: Nipah virus is a highly virulent zoonotic pathogen that can be transmitted between humans. Understanding the dynamics of person-to-person transmission is key to designing effective interventions.

Methods: We used data from all Nipah virus cases identified during outbreak investigations in Bangladesh from April 2001 through April 2014 to investigate case-patient characteristics associated with onward transmission and factors associated with the risk of infection among patient contacts.

Results: Of 248 Nipah virus cases identified, 82 were caused by person-to-person transmission, corresponding to a reproduction number (i.e., the average number of secondary cases per case patient) of 0.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.19 to 0.59). The predicted reproduction number increased with the case patient's age and was highest among patients 45 years of age or older who had difficulty breathing (1.1; 95% CI, 0.4 to 3.2). Case patients who did not have difficulty breathing infected 0.05 times as many contacts (95% CI, 0.01 to 0.3) as other case patients did. Serologic testing of 1863 asymptomatic contacts revealed no infections. Spouses of case patients were more often infected (8 of 56 [14%]) than other close family members (7 of 547 [1.3%]) or other contacts (18 of 1996 [0.9%]). The risk of infection increased with increased duration of exposure of the contacts (adjusted odds ratio for exposure of >48 hours vs. ≤1 hour, 13; 95% CI, 2.6 to 62) and with exposure to body fluids (adjusted odds ratio, 4.3; 95% CI, 1.6 to 11).

Conclusions: Increasing age and respiratory symptoms were indicators of infectivity of Nipah virus. Interventions to control person-to-person transmission should aim to reduce exposure to body fluids. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.).

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6547369PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1805376DOI Listing

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