In recent days, several publications have been circulating on social media that state that the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning about the risk of a global outbreak of the Nipah virus after Carnival. Will it be true? SIC Verifies.
Posts on social media platforms state that the World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement warning of the risk of a global outbreak of the Nipah virus following Carnival festivities. The shares suggest that the entity was anticipating a possible global outbreak, similar to what occurred with covid-19.
What do the facts say?
When we analyze the official communications, we see that the WHO did not issue any warning about a global risk of the spread of the Nipah virus after Carnival.
the organization stated that the risk of the virus spreading beyond India’s borders is “low”as to date there have not been any confirmed cases outside the country.
“Based on currently available information, WHO assesses that the overall risk to public health caused by Nipah virus infection subnational level [relativamente à Índia] is moderate, taking into account the unavailability of specific medicines or vaccines for the infection”, adds the note.
“For neighboring countries, the WHO assesses that the risk to public health posed byNipah virus infection at the regional level it is low. There have been no reports of cross-border transmission and the current outbreak remains geographically limited,” the statement added.
Therefore, “WHO assesses the risk to public health posed by infection by at a global level as lowas there has been no confirmation of the spread of cases outside India.”
In an interview with SIC Verifica, the infectious disease specialist and coordinator of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Hospital de S. João, André Silva-Pinto, explains that the Nipah is a virus that causes a zoonotic disease, that is, a “doence that normally exists in animals” and that, “from time to time, it is transmitted to humans”.
As the infectious disease specialist points out, “It is a virus that exists in bats only in Southwest Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and from time to time, directly or through other animals, such as pigs, it causes outbreaks in humans.”
What makes the virus worrying is the severity of the disease, which affects the central nervous system and respiratory systempresenting “a high mortality rate”explains André Silva-Pinto.
Although there is always a risk of transmission between people, the specialist note that “the mortality rate always depends on access to health care”and in historically affected countries, limited access to health services can influence the numbers reported in the medical literature, which vary between 40% and 70%.
The World Health Organization considers Nipah a potentially emerging virus, but both the WHO and the assess that “there is a low risk of transmission to Europe of this virus”. This is due, firstly, to the lack of the specific bat that hosts the virus in Europe, and secondly, to the fact that outbreaks usually involve only a few cases and are controlled.
According to the infectious disease specialist, theKnown outbreaks since 1998 have had “a very small magnitude, without a large spread, not even within the countries themselves, therefore a low regional spread and a low national and global spread.”
Finally, André Silva-Pinto concludes that “in the case of the Nipah virus, the risk of cases in Portugal is low“reinforcing the assessment of international authorities.
SIC verifies that it is…
It is false that the World Health Organization warned of the global risk of spreading the Nipah virus after Carnival. The entity considers the risk low, has not issued any extraordinary recommendations and there is no record of cases outside India. That is, the Content circulating on social media misrepresents and exaggerates available information, creating unwarranted alarm.
