NIH confirms that Pakistan has sufficient laboratory capacity, diagnostic kits to test suspected cases
Pakistan has stepped up preparedness measures against the Nipah virus, with officials from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) informing a high-level meeting on Thursday that the risk of an outbreak remained low, although the presence of animal reservoirs meant it could not be completely ruled out.
A day earlier, the federal government ordered strict and enhanced health surveillance at all entry points into the country following regional alerts about the Nipah virus, a highly lethal zoonotic disease. In an advisory issued by the Health Ministry’s Border Health Services, authorities cited reports of suspected Nipah virus cases in India’s West Bengal state and warned of the virus’s potential for cross-border transmission.
Director General (DG) Health, Dr. Abdul Wali Khan, confirmed Express Pakinomist that a high-level meeting was held today on preventive and preparedness measures in the Ministry of Health.
Read more: Pakistan tightens border surveillance over Nipah virus
He said the meeting was called on instructions from Health Minister Mustafa Kama to review national preparedness and ensure response mechanisms are in place. DG Khan added that NIH officials said the risk of an outbreak remained low but could not be completely ruled out due to the presence of animal populations.
He further said that they also confirmed that Pakistan had sufficient laboratory capacity and diagnostic kits to test suspected cases, but noted that no approved vaccine or specific antiviral treatment existed.
Khan said Health Minister Hamed Yaqoob Shaikh informed the forum that while no Nipah virus case has been detected in Pakistan so far in humans or animals, the ecological conditions observed in neighboring countries called for continued vigilance and preparedness.
He added that officials reviewed the preparedness across federal health institutions, surveillance systems, border health services and major hospitals in the federal capital.
GD Khan said he himself told the meeting that the Nipah virus was a zoonotic pathogen, with fruit bats and pigs as natural reservoirs, and that reported human outbreaks had so far been limited to parts of Asia, beginning in Malaysia in 1999.
He said fruit bats were present in Pakistan, especially in northern and forested areas, but added that no scientific evidence existed of active Nipah virus circulation or transmission to humans in the country.
Khan said that according to Border Health Service officials at the meeting, enhanced screening of incoming travelers was underway at airports and land crossings, including thermal screening and assessment of travel history, particularly for passengers arriving from high-risk areas, although there were no direct flights from countries that had recently reported cases.
Read also: What you need to know about the Nipah virus?
He said managing directors of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and the Federal Government Polyclinic told meeting members that designated isolation facilities were available and that trained staff were ready to handle suspected cases as per national guidelines.
The DG added that health experts at the meeting reiterated that Nipah was a highly lethal disease, with previous outbreaks showing a mortality rate of 40-75%, often causing severe respiratory disease and encephalitis.
He further said that according to the Federal Minister of Health, there was no reason for public panic, but he urged the authorities to remain alert and proactive; directed stronger public awareness campaigns ahead of Ramazan; advised people to wash fruit thoroughly, avoid fallen or partially eaten fruit and refrain from unsafe food handling practices that can increase exposure to animal secretions, and stressed the need for close coordination between federal and provincial health departments to ensure rapid detection and response.
GD Khan said the meeting participants concluded that continued surveillance, border screening, hospital preparedness and public awareness were essential to prevent the introduction and spread of Nipah virus in Pakistan, while confirming that the current threat level remained minimal.
Nipah is classified as a priority pathogen by the World Health Organization due to its ability to trigger rapid outbreaks, its fatality rate of 40-75% and the fact that there is no approved vaccine or cure.
The virus, which is carried by fruit bats and animals such as pigs, can trigger a fatal encephalitis in humans and can also be spread directly from person to person through close contact. Several vaccines are in development but remain in testing.
Nipah was first identified in 1998 during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore, although scientists believe it has been circulating in flying foxes for millennia and warn that a mutated, highly transmissible strain could emerge from bats.
India regularly reports sporadic infections, particularly in the southern state of Kerala, which is considered to be among the world’s most at-risk regions for Nipah outbreaks. The virus has been linked to dozens of deaths in Kerala since it first appeared there in 2018.
The cases in West Bengal are the state’s first in nearly two decades after five fatal infections in 2007, local media reported.
