Taiwan lists Nipah virus as Category 5 disease

Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday officially designated Nipah virus as a Category 5 notifiable disease, requiring suspected cases to be reported within 24 hours.

The CDC said the decision to elevate Nipah virus to a Category 5 disease reflects ongoing outbreaks abroad and its high fatality rate and transmission risks, aiming to strengthen early warning systems, raise public awareness and ensure rapid response to potential future cases.

Despite the new classification, the CDC said no domestic infections have been recorded to date.

In a notice to medical institutions, the CDC said patients meeting reporting criteria must be admitted to negative-pressure isolation wards and treated under strict control measures, including contact, droplet and airborne precautions.

Physicians are required to report suspected cases through the national infectious disease reporting system within 24 hours, it said.

Clinical samples -- such as nasopharyngeal or throat swabs, or cerebrospinal fluid collected during the symptomatic phase -- must be packaged as Category A infectious substances and transported at 2-8 degrees Celsius to the CDC for testing.

Nipah virus is a zoonotic disease transmitted through direct contact with infected pigs or contaminated tissues. Other transmission routes include the consumption of food tainted by fruit bat saliva or urine -- such as raw date palm sap or contaminated fruit -- and close contact in healthcare or caregiving settings, according to the CDC.

In a statement, CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said more than 750 cases have been recorded globally since the virus was first identified in 1998. Outbreaks have primarily occurred in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Bangladesh and India, with a fatality rate of 40-75 percent.

While Bangladesh and India continue to report sporadic outbreaks, Tseng noted that no approved treatments or vaccines are currently available.

Several countries, including Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and India, have already classified Nipah virus infection as a notifiable disease, Tseng said.

She added that Taiwan established testing capabilities for the virus in 2000 and has listed it as a priority surveillance disease since 2018, with no confirmed human or animal cases reported so far.