Zoonotic diseases are perhaps, the most striking argument in favour of evolution. These are diseases that can leapfrog from animals to human beings. The most notorious examples would include Ebola, HIV, mad cow disease, and rabies. Nipah was added to the list in 1998-99 when there was an outbreak of a mysterious illness in the Malaysian kampung (village) of Sungai Nipah.
The disease was identified as being caused by an hitherto-unknown virus, and named Nipah after the village. It had infected local pigs and then been transmitted to human beings. It was discovered that the virus, which caused the disease was
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