World

Indian nurse infected with Nipah virus dies

By AAP Newswire

Feb 13, 2026

Thai health officials — Thai authorities have stepped up airport screening after Nipah infections were confirmed in India. -EPA

An Indian health worker who contracted the ‌deadly Nipah virus in December has died, a senior health ‌official from the eastern state of West Bengal says.

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The woman - a nurse - was one of two people in the state who were infected and was being treated at a local hospital, ‌Reuters reported last ‌month.

"The ⁠woman ... who was critical, died due to cardiac arrest," Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam told Reuters.

Commonly spread to humans from infected bats or fruit contaminated by them, the Nipah virus can cause ⁠fever and brain inflammation ‌and has a fatality rate of between 40 per cent and 75 per cent.

India regularly ‌reports sporadic infections, with its southern state of Kerala also regarded as one of the world's highest-risk regions for the virus.

Asian countries including Thailand, Singapore and Pakistan stepped up airport screening after ‌India confirmed the infections last month but the World Health Organisation had said risk of the virus' spread was low.

A woman also died in Bangladesh in January after contracting the virus, the WHO had said.