'Nipah virus may have spread thru' date juice'
Staff Correspondent
The viral attack that recently claimed 12 lives in three villages in Bashail upazila under Tangail district recently might have spread through contaminated date juice, a scientist working in the seven-member research team told The Daily Star yesterday.It is speculated that female fruit bats, natural host of Nipah virus, may have transmitted the virus in date juice, which is traditionally taken raw as a popular drink in villages during the winter. "We are yet to look into many other aspects of the nature of the virus that attacked small communities for the third consecutive year since 2003", said the scientist requesting anonymity. "We have to perform many more laboratory tests before we can confirm Nipah's spread from date juice in Tangail", he added.
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