Teenager dies from ‘brain-swelling’ virus as fears rise of ‘next pandemic’

Statistically it kills two out of three people

Nipah, which has a 2 in 3 mortality rate amongst those who get infected, is carried by fruit bats and passed along to humans via droppings and saliva.

It is of the same viral family as measles, making it extremely contagious, and experts are now fearing this could ignite the 'next pandemic'.

The unnamed teenager, from the town of Malappuram in the Kerala region, first suffered from acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) on Wednesday, July 2, which affects the brain and causes a fever.

Local officials have since detected a second case of the Nipah virus, this time in a 38-year-old lady from Palakkad who's now in a critical state at a private hospital, according to The Hindu.

At the time of writing, 425 individuals across three districts have been identified as contacts of the infected women, having attended the same social event.

12 of them are currently receiving treatment, while authorities await full test results to determine how many people could be in danger.

Just a couple of months ago, science writer David Quammen suggested that bird flu would be the next influence behind a pandemic.

"But there's always a lot of randomness built into this because these viruses have high mutation rates and mutation is basically a random process.

"Just the way the Covid virus went from being a rare virus to being a virus in humans and in wildlife all over the planet, that could happen starting tomorrow with bird flu," Quammen concluded.