Nipah scare : Kolkata zoo authorities caution visitors against

In the wake of the Nipah virus (NiV) scare in different corners of the country, the city zoo authority has cautioned visitors against feeding animals by plucking leaves and fruits from trees in its garden.

"We have many visitors who pick leaves and fruits from the garden and feed the animals. With the Nipah virus alert, we are not willing to take any chances and have hence issued this notification. This is basically a precautionary measure," Alipore Zoo director Ashish Samanta said.

The city zoo has good number of fruit bats, considered one of the carriers of the Nipah virus, he added.

Several boards displaying the notice against feeding animals have been put up at different points of the zoo to attract the visitors' attention, Samanta said.

"We have also employed staff to keep the ground in the zoo gardens and the compound clean of the fruit and leaves on regular basis. Frequent sweeping of the gardens and in front of the zoo has been made mandatory," he said.

Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus are the natural host of the NiV virus and the infection causes severe disease in both animals and humans.

NiV was first identified in 1998 during an outbreak of disease in Malasia's Kampung Sungai Nipah.

As per the World Health Organisation, the first case of human infection was reported from Bangladesh in 2004.

Human-to-human transmission has also been documented, including in a hospital setting in India.

NiV infection in humans has a range of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory syndrome and fatal encephalitis, the WHO said.

The primary treatment for human cases is intensive supportive care, it added.