Woman dies of Nipah virus in Rajshahi

A woman died of Nipah virus infection yesterday in Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), taking the death toll to seven this year.

Farida Begum, 25, passed away 22 days after her father-in-law, Abdul Haque, 65, died of the same infection.

Her mother-in-law, Rahima Begum, 60, meanwhile, has been admitted to the ICU of RMCH after she showed severe symptoms of the same infection, according to Brig Gen Shamim Ahmed, director of the hospital.

All of them had a history of drinking raw date juice collected from the same palm tree near their house in Manda upazila in Naogaon, health officials said.

A joint-team from the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), icddr,b and EcoHealth Alliance has reached the spot yesterday to investigate the outbreak.

"Both the man and his daughter-in-law were tested positive for Nipah virus infection in the IEDCR lab. We suspect that the third patient [Rahima] has got Nipah infection, but we are yet to test her sample," Dr Sharmin Sultana, senior scientific officer of Virology at the IEDCR told The Daily Star yesterday.

"We will know details once our investigation team collect detailed information."

The number of new cases and deaths due to Nipah virus have increased significantly this year compared to the previous years since 2003, according to Dr Sharmin Sultana.