Ramana sir, Bats can travel thousands of kilometers every year. Unless sampling and testing is done, we simply dont know about the prevalence of these viruses in wild populations. Zoonotic events are rare, It is like a perfect storm. A lot of factors need to work out perfectly for a spillover event to occur.ramana wrote:How did a bat in Kerala become a carrier for Bangladesh strain of Nipah Virus?
And if it travelled from bat to bat from Bangladesh, how come there were no outbreaks of Nipah virus all along the path?
It is known that the virus exists in wild populations of BD and other SE countries. But we dont see regular outbreaks. We might simply be lucky. It is also known that Bats can actually clear out some viral infections.
But I agree with you in that more work needs to be done to understand the context of the original spillover. His travel history, his meetings with potential intermediate hosts etc. I am sure the powers to be are working that out.
In the absence of any solid information to suggest other wise, the most probable cause would be a zoonotic event.